To enter Russia from occupied Ukraine, all Tatiana has to do is arrive at the edge of the war-battered Donetsk region, show guards her Russian passport, say “thank you” and cross.
Moscow has controlled several key border points since 2014, but the frontier has become more porous since the Kremlin annexed four Ukrainian territories last year, encouraging residents to take up new citizenship.
“It’s become more comfortable because we’ve become Russians,” said the 37-year-old, who is from a Russian-occupied town.
Photo: AFP
Tatiana used to have to go through a more arduous procedure to enter Russia: a check run by Moscow-sponsored separatists, then through Russian customs.
“We had two borders to cross, which meant long, long traffic queues,” she said near a motel on the frontier.
She she was headed for Taganrog — a town in southern Russia once home to writer Anton Chekhov — to run some errands, including taking out insurance.
The smoother crossings are one of the most visible signs of change since the Kremlin annexed the industrial Donetsk region alongside three others at a lavish ceremony last year.
They illustrate how quickly Russian authorities are seeking to absorb occupied territories, even though the international community including Russia’s allies do not recognize Moscow’s authority there.
Moscow last weekend hosted local government elections in the territories and said that the United Russia party had won easily in each region.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in May said that officials had handed out nearly 2 million Russian passports to Ukrainians in occupied regions.
However, its military still does not fully control any of the four new regions, and Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and Donetsk.
Despite that, thousands of people travel to Russia by bus or car from occupied cities like Donetsk, Lugansk and Mariupol — a port city captured by Moscow after a brutal months-long siege.
However, farther from the front, signs of the conflict are visible everywhere.
Journalists on the road between Taganrog and the Avilo-Uspenka crossing point saw Russian military vehicles daubed with large Z and V tactical symbols, while two Russian attack helicopters flew overhead.
“The closer you get [to Russia], the safer you feel,” Tatiana said, describing life in her “frontline town” of Gorlivka as dangerous and stressful.
While the conflict has spilled over into Russia — with cross-border drone attacks and shelling now routine — Russian authorities are working to contain the conflict on one side of the border.
A taxi driver, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that two of his passengers — a mother and her son — had recently been stopped by Russian customs as they left the Ukrainian region of Lugansk.
The man was accused of deserting from his military unit, while his mother was accused of trying to help him return home.
While entering Russia has become easier for people like Tatiana, difficulties remain for truck drivers still subject to meticulous checks by Russian customs.
“The rules for crossing for cars are very different from those for goods,” said Vlad, a 26-year-old truck driver who spends long hours in his truck each time he passes through.
Nearby, retired postal worker Natalia was waiting for the one train connection each day from Russia back to the occupied Donetsk region.
“We would obviously like more forms of transport,” the 69-year-old said after visiting relatives in Taganrog.
“We’re not quite in Russia yet, but we’re going to hope,” she said, referring to the long process of deeper integration from Moscow.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS