Letters from occupied Donbas: Handing out keys to others’ apartments

Letter from occupied Donbas, war zone in eastern Ukraine, about life of so-called Donetsk People Republic (DPR), new orders and terrible reality for the ordinary citizens. By Sergiy Andryiv, unemployed resident of Makiivka for radiosvoboda.

The May holidays in Donetsk overshadowed a significant event the media ignored. On May 6, Arseniy Pavlov, known as “Motorola,” leader of the “Sparta” battalion, and the executioner at Donetsk airport of 15 of our fighters, received the keys to an apartment in a modern highrise in the heart of Donetsk. In addition about 30 separatist-militants received apartments in the new building “for performing special services for ‘the republic.'”

The handing over of the keys ceremony was conducted in the best Soviet traditions: a woman in a snow white suit with a clipped on Georgian Ribbon smiled radiantly as in solemn tones she read the names of the lucky men to the sounds of Soviet music and in the presence of an armed-with-a-pistol and decorated-with-crosses Zakharchenko. Speaking of Zakharchenko, he is always full of surprises. This time was no exception – he was either drunk or extremely agitated.

Zakharchenko stumbled through his speech, listing the names of the men who were granted apartments for their “exemplary service.”

I.V.Iahelskyi continued announcing the list of names. Iahelskyi is not your “plain Ivan,” he has connections to the senior military staff of the Russian Military Forces.

Givi [Strelkov] spoke next, then Claudia Kulbatskaya, known for not allowing the orphans of Kramatrosk to leave Kramatorsk back in 2014; Arseniy Pavlov, renowned for the banning of shaving in order that the desired image of a “Sparta” militant be preserved spoke last.

In closing remarks Zakharchenko expressed a rather clever wish: new construction should be seriously considered. He added that the apartments were presented at the expense of “DNR Capital Construction Administration.”

Besides promises being made to hand out an additional 2,000 apartments in Donetsk to members of various “republic” agencies and to “eminent” people, Zakharchenko’s own TV station “OPLOT TV” posed unexpected, rhetorical questions: had not the rights of the rightful former owners of those given-away apartments been violated, and why hadn’t a single meter of housing construction been done in the two years of Zakharchenko’s “administration”?

Smiling broadly, Zakharchenko explained, “All their rights are intact. But the former owners now live in Kyiv so it is physically impossible for them to live in these arpartments.”

The background “props” were more impressive than any of the speeches: the black jeeps and the security guys armed with machine guns set up to protect the officials at the tear jerking ceremony that was held to demonstrate the love and care of the DNR for its “best of the best.”

EMPR, O. R. contributed to current publication

Image credits AFP.

Original article in Russian is available on radiosvoboda.org.

Find more letters from occupied Donbas stories:

[/vc_column_text]

[/vc_column][/vc_row] Tags: donetsk oblast EMPR Makiivka russia ukraine war