The governor: 'We are unable to defend every infrastructure in Crimea'

The admission by Aksenov, who since the beginning of the conflict had always declared that war with Ukraine was far away, urged Russian tourists not to give up their trips to the Black Sea peninsula. Which again became a desert as described by some writers in the years following the Bolshevik revolution.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Following the increasingly pressing developments of the Ukrainian counter-offensive on the territory of Crimea, which caused the majority of Russian tourists to flee during the hot months, even the local authorities themselves now "are not currently able to defend all the infrastructure,” as stated by the governor of the region Sergei Aksenov.

This statement indicates a decisive change in official rhetoric, which until now had stuck to the certainties of being able to guarantee the security of the peninsula, according to the continuous statements of Aksenov himself and the Kremlin leadership.

At the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, Aksenov had assured that "we have nothing to fear, the situation is calm and no mines or bullets will fall on the territory of Crimea".

These certainties had already been put into crisis a few months later, when drone and missile flights began in the areas closest to the Kherson region, and also in other areas further away from the front.

Last autumn the perception of distance from war operations collapsed together with the exploded pieces of the Kerch bridge, which only now, after a year of restorations and new attacks, has been "completely restored" according to the latest announcements, even if the restrictions remain to circulation.

Since October 2022, the "medium level of reaction" regime has been in force on the Black Sea peninsula, with bans on taking photographs and videos of transport facilities, especially railways.

You can take a selfie in front of stations or bus stops, but not inside the vehicles, and in any case "for personal use only and without details of the structures". Even crowded walks are to be avoided, which makes the state of apprehension on the streets, usually packed with tourists and holidaymakers, particularly evident.

Public demonstrations of the “sacred dates” of Defender of the Fatherland Day, February 21, and the annexation of Crimea itself to Russia on March 18 were also abolished.

And despite everything, Aksenov and Russian politicians have continued obsessively to repeat that “Crimea is completely safe”, and the anti-aircraft defense system will prevent further damage.

The Ukrainians, however, continued to strike in all corners of the territory, especially after each statement from the governor. In addition to the Kerch bridge which directly connects Crimea to Russia, a symbolic work desired by Putin immediately after the 2014 annexation, the provinces of Saki, Džankoj, Simferopol and Krasnogvardejsk were devastated. According to Aksenov, at least until a few days ago, "the safety of the citizens of Crimea is guaranteed thanks to the measures decided by President Putin".

By now even Aksenov had to surrender to the evidence, first muttering that "as for the air attacks, perhaps they should be over", and then admitting that he was not able to defend all the structures with anti-aircraft: "we hope that our efforts are rewarded by luck, and allow us to repel attacks and drones, at least those on the main military and energy targets, especially fuel depots".

The tourist season failed, despite "the corrective measures made to logistics", to transport groups of young people at all costs and invite "extreme tourists" to cross the streets amidst the bombings.

Crimea once again experienced the terror described by various writers, such as for example in Ivan Shmelev's Sun of the Dead, in the years following the Bolshevik revolution, which had turned the Russians' "peninsula of paradise" into a desert, as appears today also for the serious water shortages, also a consequence of the conflict with Ukraine.

Putin's continuous declarations on the "failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive", contradicted by the facts, sound more like sinister warnings of the erasure of the Crimean identity, the heart of Russian self-awareness, than comments on the war events.

Photo: Wikipedia