Free economic zone and crisis of trust. Donetsk journal

Another wave of promises from the "authorities" has begun in the "republic". Of course, it's all "for the people", and ahead looms the "bright future", towards which the young "republic" is supposedly advancing "by leaps and bounds, despite the ongoing military actions".

However, very few actually believe in this anymore. Of all the promises made earlier, only one has been fulfilled - the "joining" to the russian federation. And even that happened somewhat haphazardly: it seems like everyone was given russian passports, but in reality, the inhabitants of the "DNR" are considered "russian" only within their own zoo. Sorry, within their own territory. As soon as any of them approaches the border with actual russia, they are immediately shown that they are not the citizens they dreamed of being.

Both when entering and leaving the "DNR", everyone without exception undergoes thorough document and mobile device checks. At the border, now called a checkpoint after the "joining", people wait from two to five hours, depending on the passenger flow. The more people accumulated at the border that day, the longer the checks take. However, as the "new russians" have noticed, it seems that representatives of the security services are not in much of a hurry. Because their main task is to check more thoroughly rather than to let people pass through quickly.

The city is mired in garbage, and foul sewage water constantly flows along the roads. To somehow explain the situation, they told on TV why rats run along the central streets of the "capital" and plastic bags hang from the trees. It turns out that the low wages of utility workers are to blame. And to make the city shine with cleanliness again, they say, it is necessary to raise tariffs for services, which will allow increasing the wages of utility workers. As a result, communal services have almost tripled in price, but the salaries of utility workers have remained practically the same. There is still a shortage of specialists, and the situation has not changed either with garbage collection, or with cleaning the yards, or with repairing utility systems.

They also promised to raise the salaries of junior medical staff. Maybe they thought that as soon as they announced a "significant" increase, queues would form under hospitals and clinics the next day. But the people in Donetsk are skeptical and don't rush to believe promises. Therefore, the problem in medical institutions remains at the same - critical level. As well as the salaries of nurses.

Bus drivers also waited a long time for the promised salary increase. Unable to bear the brazen deception, one by one they started resigning from the municipal transport company. Not even the launched rumor that drivers from the russian Rostov oblast, who would be paid high salaries, would fill the vacant positions helped. In fact, today in Donetsk, only half as many buses go on routes as even last year. Not to mention the period before June 2014 when, with rare exceptions, Donetsk residents waited at bus stops for their bus less than 10 minutes.

Prices for groceries are decreasing only on TV news. There they also talk about some monitoring raids on prices. So to say, they keep the issue under control so that unscrupulous entrepreneurs don't dare to profit at the expense of the people. Apparently, they want the local population to believe that retail prices for most goods are exactly the same as in Rostov, and that the conditions of the "Memorandum" are being observed.

I remind you that in January of this year, considering the complaints of Donetsk residents about sky-high prices, the "government of the republic" signed an agreement with market participants on stabilizing prices for certain types of goods and promised to keep their cost at the level of average prices in the Rostov oblast. But those, who visit Rostov, claim that this is a vile deception.

However, the "authorities" do not hesitate to report on how they care about the welfare of their people and write that some food products in the "republic" are even cheaper than in other regions of russia. As an example, they cite the cost of sausages, pasta, wheat flour, sour cream, and hard, semi-hard, and soft cheeses, which they claim are 10-25% cheaper than in the Rostov oblast. Of course, it's unrealistic to just pop into the nearest supermarket and take a trip to Rostov in one day to understand how true this is. But something tells me that the "authorities" are lying here too.

They promised to provide water supply. There were lots of reports made about the construction of the "Don-Donbas" water pipeline, which they planned to launch in April of last year, then bring to full capacity in September. In fact, the situation has improved only somewhat – water is now provided every day. However, not in all areas. And not around the clock, and of rather dubious quality. So, by and large, it's deception once again.

And what about the pensioners waiting for a recalculation of pensions! They were promised that the minimum payments would be "decent". They ran around with papers to all the authorities, stood in line for hours, and as a result, they received a mere 18,000 rubles with a full insurance record. It's laughable, really. Because in Donetsk, you can't live decently for a month on that money. And if you happen to get sick, you'll barely have enough money for aspirin and cough drops.

But apparently, Pushilin got tired of nickel-and-diming. He decided to aim for grander promises. And he started telling the people about the creation of a free economic zone (FEZ) on the territory of the "DNR", that is, in the zone of military operations. Allegedly, putin himself signed a federal law in June of last year, according to which a special economic zone with a special regime of entrepreneurial activity is established in the captured territories (also known as "liberated" territories). This means they become attractive for business due to preferential taxation. And if we believe Pushilin, investors are already lining up. According to him, in just the last three weeks, the number of registered legal entities on the investment portal "Territory Development Fund" has increased by 36 and now amounts to 243.

"The volume of planned investments amounts to over 11 billion rubles, and the number of created jobs is 3604. We plan to involve 18,700 employees in project implementation", - said the "leader" to representatives of regional media, who immediately shared this joyful news with the people.

They write that investors will be putting money into the construction of new enterprises. But they do not specify in which sphere the creation of new jobs is planned. Maybe they'll build a plant for assembling space objects or something like Silicon Valley? They also do not say where they plan to recruit the declared number of workers, considering the manpower shortage that worsens year after year in the "republic". Well, unless this issue is resolved at the expense of Buryats, Chuvash, and other representatives of russia's small ethnic groups. They will definitely cope with the mission entrusted to them and make a significant contribution to the region's development.

Of course, most Donetsk residents do not understand what kind of beast this FEZ is. Especially since under Yanukovych’s presidency, there was already some kind of FEZ in Donetsk, but no one felt any improvement in their lives from it. Well, those capable of thinking clearly realize that there can be no fair competition in the gray zone, and the benefits will be exclusively for "their own". And what kind of production can withstand shelling? It will all come down to the "divvying up" and "skimming off" of what worked before russia's arrival.

Liusia Molchanova, Donetsk, for OstroV