The first session of “the State Council” of Crimea in this year provides the main topic of Crimean media for this week. It is nationalization. After “the personal enemy” of all Crimean people Igor Kolomoyskiy, the turn of Rinat Akhmetov came. His company “Krymenergo” was nationalized at lightning speed – the self-appointed prime-minister of the autonomy Sergey Aksenov barely had time to announce that. According to some Crimean media, now the Crimeans have to pay more for “nationalized” electricity.
The newspaper “Krymskie Izvestiya” went to the grass-roots and published a chorus of “Hurrah!” from grateful population of occupied Crimea for the “nationalization” of the private property of the company PJSC “DTEK Krymenergo” on the front page. In grateful citizens’ opinion, “the state will dispose of the nationalized property in a more effective way than it was done by its previous owner – the billionaire Rinat Akhmetov.”
The “speaker” Vladimir Konstantinov comments this decision as “a principle of social justice” in the columns of the same newspaper. That’s why, “all our actions and decisions, which are made and will be made within the strict legal framework and only in the interests of Crimeans, are based on this principle,” the newspaper declares the purposes of the nationalization in the Crimean way.
“The Mirror of Crimea” reminds the readers that there are still objects in Crimea to demonstrate public enthusiasm: “The Ahmetov’s property on the peninsula is not limited to the “DTEK Krymenergo”, it is possible to call also the Crimean directorate of Ukrtelecom and the sanatorium “Ai-Danil” among large enterprises. It is not hard to assume what the local authorities will do to please the Crimeans once again.
At the same time, there are somewhat different approaches to the so-called nationalization in Sevastopol. “Sevastopol took a different way although there are strategically important objects on his territory as well,” the newspaper keeps writing. As known, there is the Sevastopol Marine Plant in Sevastopol and “the governor” Sergey Menyaylo “admits the possibility of its buying out instead of the nationalization.” “The Mirror of Crimea” explains such different approaches with the nationalization “based not on the difference of class position. Both Chaluy and Aksenov along with Konstantinov are not lady cooks, who came to power; all of them are businessmen and property owners.” If we remember that “the businessman” Aksenov had a nickname “Goblin” in the tough 90s, then it explains many things regarding the methods of doing “business” today.
With “Krymenergo” confiscated by “the State Council” of the autonomy in the background, the sanatorium “Utes” and the Crimean currency exchange taken away from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine were almost unnoticed. Aksenov justified the need for the nationalization of the interbank currency exchange with the fact “that it was established with the money of the republic,” the Krymskiy Telegraf newspaper writes in the article “It was yours, then it became ours”. At the same time, the newspaper reports that “the last bastion fell” in Crimea – the bread got more expensive that was declared by the Crimean authorities as something that would never happen after the notorious nationalization (in response to public demand) of the company “Krymhleb”.
In the general background of joy, the “Sevastopol News” informs that “tariffs will be increased by 6.5 – 15% about once every six months. It will be less for population and more for other consumers.” Despite the nationalization of the company “Chernomorneftegaz”, the tariff for gas was increased by 8% and water and heating tariffs – by 10% since October 2014.
It is easy to predict the news for the next week in Crimea. According to the reports of the newspaper “Crimean echo”, Rinat Ahmetov refused to sell his another company Crimean directorate of Ukrtelecom that owns wire communication channels to the republic. However, “the workers of Ukrtelecom are mentally prepared for the company’s nationalization and think that it still doesn’t happen just because of technical issues,” the “Crimean echo” predicts.
