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Contractors from mainland Ukraine are packing their things. And their Crimean colleagues calculate what salary they will now receive in the army of their new homeland

^{Photo: Evgeny Feldman - "New"}

When exactly this turning point came, no one can say. Official Kyiv, for example, still denies at all that fermentation has begun in the Crimean units. Moscow, on the other hand, insists that the Ukrainian troops on the peninsula almost completely swore allegiance to the local authorities (and, therefore, already to Russia) at the end of February. And in such an information scenario, you can only believe what you saw yourself.

Since the Russian military began to blockade military units in Crimea, I found only one who swore allegiance to the Russian Federation. And it turned out to be Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Navy Berezovsky, who had just been appointed by Kiev. Although who knows, the sworn army may be hidden. Or even simpler - this one and only Berezovsky is simply worth an entire army.

On the other hand, after three weeks of continuous blockade in the Ukrainian units, something nevertheless shook. In front of reporters, all these days, Ukrainians were persuaded to surrender their weapons and swear allegiance to the "armed forces of Crimea or Russia." And they, initially put on full alert, passively watched as Russian troops surrounded their military camps, warehouses, barracks, in general, the entire territory. Referring to verbal orders from Kyiv, local commanders told me that "they will not shoot first and will not succumb to provocations."

- Turchynov ( acting President of Ukraine. - P.K. ) told us: hold on. And nothing more, - Sergey Storozhenko, the commander of the unit in Perevalnoye, nervously told me. - Do not shoot, do not fight, but hold on. And not in writing, but orally. So think about how we behave!

The commander of the Belbek air unit, Igor Mamchur, was the first to resist and demanded a written directive from Kyiv on how to respond to the presence of Russian troops. If Kyiv keeps silent again, Mamchur threatened to act according to the military regulations, in particular, "to use weapons against the occupying forces."

“Yes, of course, we won’t shoot,” Oleg Podovalov, Mamchur’s deputy, explained to me then. “But let them already tell us what to do: are we leaving, are we fighting, or are we what? We are waiting for solutions.

Kyiv responded only a week later, a day after the referendum, when the Crimean authorities called the Ukrainian military themselves occupiers — those who would not agree to go over to the side of the Russians. The military command of Ukraine then allowed its Crimean units to open fire in response to aggression.

Military units were the only support of Kyiv on the elusive peninsula. They held out to the end and even survived a couple of days - already as "occupiers" - after the referendum. And then, on Wednesday, commissions from the FMS of Russia began to arrive at the location of the units. In the only photo kiosk of the 8,000-seat Perevalnoe, there is a stable queue of 20-30 people.

And in the only cafe (however, there is also a pub), my fighting girlfriends, local employees, are discussing the future with me at a table.

“Well, they pay me 470–480 dollars here,” says senior sailor Alla Zakharova, a strong woman of 35.

“Forty thousand,” I say.

- So this is ... wow, - Alla thinks for a couple of seconds and continues with delight: - What else is there to talk about, well, judge for yourself!

Alla serves at the naval communication center in Perevalnoye, and "combat readiness" was not introduced at her node. Her husband, on the contrary, has been on an enhanced regime for the third week and does not sleep at home.

“I ran in a couple of times, of course, to wash,” says Alla, straightening her long burgundy bangs. - We sat, thinking, of course ... We decided that we would cross. He is a Crimean, I myself am from Kharkov, and what is Ukraine to us now? My mother also came here to visit me.

“Does your husband mind?” asks her blonde woman in her 40s with very long eyelashes and a bag of chicken eggs. - Not against your mother?

“So mom is also for Russia now, of course,” says Alla. - She should also apply for a passport somehow. Did you apply, Ir?

“Went for a photo shoot,” a satisfied blonde with eyelashes replied. - You can't see it, can you?

“Don’t worry,” I ask, “that in Ukraine you will be called traitors?”

What is it for? Ira was outraged. “Ukraine would have been better off thinking about how they left their own people here. The military here has been under pressure for so long, and only from Kyiv: “Hold on!”

What kind of reaction were you hoping for?

We didn't expect anything! Allah said. You could at least come and support! Because, you know, some of us here couldn’t stand it anymore, filed a report and went to the mainland, and in Chongar their Ukrainian border guards turned around and said: you are traitors, roll back.

“It was,” Ira nods. - Threw and humiliated.

Although with whom exactly the trouble happened in Chongar, the friends do not know, they do not know each other, they only heard from other military men. I suggest looking into it. But when we start calling and find out, it turns out that the ends of this legend and the living participants cannot be found - no one has seen them, only heard from acquaintances, acquaintances, but even they, in truth, “learned from their neighbors”. And the mythical story with unknown characters, meanwhile, does not stop walking around the military village, acquiring new details.

“Even, they say, they were beaten there,” Ira was indignant. “And you want us to go serve these monsters!”

In recent weeks, this is a sign of local life - people agree to believe the most implausible news, and the more incredible the story, the faster it spreads. Moreover, Russian television has now become the only source of news for the peninsula (Ukrainian television has been turned off).

^{Photo: Evgeny Feldman - "New"}

At the same time, official Kyiv has already announced that it is preparing a plan for the redeployment of military units to the mainland. Although specific dates and new locations have not yet been determined. The Russian command, in turn, offered the Ukrainian military three options: to swear allegiance to the Russian Federation while remaining in service, leave Crimea, or quit the Ukrainian army.

In the military unit of Belbek (there is also a dual-purpose airfield), pilots serve mainly. Of all the military camps in the Crimea, Belbek turned out to be the most persistent. There were also the first power skirmishes with the participation of the Russian military. In early March, an unarmed group of Ukrainian officers with flags and the anthem tried to get to the blocked airfield - to their jobs. In response, Russian soldiers began firing over their heads. But after the negotiations, they let a few people through. Then it seemed to the Ukrainians a small victory. But a few days later the airfield at the entrance was closed completely. On Wednesday, self-defense detachments stormed the headquarters of the Ukrainian Navy in Sevastopol, and “unidentified men in uniform” took away and held Commander-in-Chief Gaiduk for a whole day. On Thursday afternoon he was dropped off outside the Crimea, in Chongar. “The rest of the servicemen are being rushed to make a decision,” Colonel Podovalov, deputy commander of the flight unit, told me. Like other military personnel in Crimea, naval pilots are offered to swear allegiance to Russia, quit or leave.

“All of our people are free, but no one has decided to take the oath,” Podovalov said. “The younger ones are asking for the mainland, the old people will retire. Whoever has housing here, we will quit and we will have to live somehow ...

— Will you get a Russian passport?

- Don't want. I don't know, the Colonel sighed. - I'm an officer.

It must be said that in Perevalnoye the doubts of the military were drowned out by advisers from the militia, who were protecting part from provocations. The information desk of the FMS will operate in the city club from tomorrow, while the self-defense coordinator spoke about the advantages of Russian citizenship at the checkpoint of the unit.

They will have a decent life! And no one will dare to call the military traitors,” said Andrei Karaulov, a tall militiaman with a beard. - They will first leave the ranks of the Ukrainian army, immediately receive Russian passports and enter the ranks of the Russian army. What kind of betrayal is this?

- And you are not a relative for an hour? .. - someone from the crowd asked Karaulov.

"Cousin," the self-defender admitted proudly. - It's noticeable!

I escort the senior sailor of the Ukrainian Navy Alla Zakharova to the store for milk. We go quickly - a strong wind is blowing, and it is generally cold. Sailor Zakharova clutches a crisp plastic bag in her hand. We meet her friends at the store.

- So you ask who is against joining. Masha is against, - Zakharova points to a girl with grocery bags. - She and her husband are from Chernivtsi, Ukrainians. And my son is against it, you know. Twenty years. He will leave, he says, for Ukraine, he does not want to be a Russian. I can't break him. And where is it from.

- What he says?

“Kostya is in the clouds, he says something about freedom,” Alla sighs. - Mash, hi, what do you advise, is it worth leaving a Ukrainian passport just in case?

“Throw it away,” Masha replies. “They won’t let you in there for treason.”

— What are you talking about?

"That's what I'm saying," said the girl. - It was said: they will not let anyone in if you take the oath. They themselves are to blame, it has come to what already ...

So what about a passport? Zakharova began to ask. But the friend had already run from the store to the house.