In the course of five years under occupation, Crimea returned to close-minded stagnant period of the USSR, Archbishop Klyment of the OCU says
These days mark five years of the events that led to the seizure of Crimea. Archbishop Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said in an interview with Glavkom, as he recalled the events of five years ago and the so-called “referendum”.
"I left Crimea on the eve of the so-called “referendum”. The situation was as follows: then Andriy Shchekun (a pro-Ukrainian activist), Serhiy Kovalsky (coordinator of the “EuroMaydan-Crimea” movement) were detained. We had no information about them. There was a real danger for me and the priests of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate. Therefore, I told them that they, together with their wives and children, should leave as soon as possible. In Crimea I happened to be already on the 20th of March. The last of our barricades was the action of March 9 on Taras Shevchenko's anniversary. After that, we realized: we can no longer change anything. You know, there was [a sense of] danger, there was fear. Then the carriages were searched, those people who arrived in and left Crimea. I was also detained, searched. The situation was very complicated, psychologically, too,” the hierarch recalled.
In his opinion, during the five years of occupation, Crimea returned in the days of the Soviet Union.
“Complete degradation. Emptiness, disappointment. No one can say anything aloud, they are afraid. In Russia, if you express your opinion, you can seriously suffer. That is why we returned to the stagnant times of the Soviet Union, when everyone talked in whispers, in their kitchens. Of course, there are those who like it all, but in general, I do not feel any festive mood, I do not see joy in the eyes of people.
When everything started, they pressed on psychologically very hard. People were prepared to a permanent feast, they say, throw out the chains of Ukraine, and this feast will begin. In the spring of 2014, such sentiments prevailed and people said: “so, now we will have salaries as in Russia, we will live better”. But they did not take into account that what seemed to be a big salary from the point of view of the Ukrainians when the Russians came, it turned out to be small. People have seen that this is not so much money, they are permanently in need. Businessmen are frustrated by the fact they have to cut down their activities,” Archbishop Klyment said.
"It's difficult to predict. Taking Sevastopol and the rest of Crimea, then these are two different regions. It seems to me that the situation in the rest of Crimea is calmer than in Sevastopol. For in Crimea there are Crimean residents (who are still in power), while Russians came to power in Sevastopol. Therefore, all local people have experienced what the "people from the mainland" are, as they call them. With regard to weapons and their large quantity on the peninsula, one cannot put it on the bread that you could later” concluded the archbishop.
