With Russia our standard of living will be higher, much higher”. “In Russia, wages and pensions are much higher even though the prices for goods are about the same as here. Ukraine has done nothing,” said Nikolai, a 35-year-old merchant seaman, who declined to give his surname. So much that it’s even hard to list it all.
“Even though Crimea has been part of Ukraine all these years, Russia is the one that has invested so much money here.
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FRENZY OF PATRIOTISMĬaught up in a frenzy of patriotism fuelled and sustained by Russian state media, many ethnic Russians here in Sevastopol, the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and Crimea’s most Russian city, don’t need much persuading how to vote.įifty eight percent of Crimean residents are ethnic Russians.īut the promise of higher living standards, a pledge aimed more at winning over ethnic Ukrainians and Tatars, who together make up 36 percent of the population, is cementing ethnic Russian convictions and, for many, is the clincher. Ukraine’s economy, according to the IMF, is only the world’s 54th biggest, and with a size of $176 billion is dwarfed by Russia’s, which is over $2 trillion. It is in fact the eighth.īut the gap between the two countries’ economies is nonetheless yawning. The “Our Home is Russia” flyer tells voters Russia is the fifth largest economy in the world. Not all of the information being given to voters is accurate. Next to it, another sheet of A4, entitled “Our home is Russia”, reprints what it says is glowing praise from the IMF of Russia’s key economic indicators, telling voters how much higher average wages and pensions in Russia are than in Ukraine.Īs Crimea’s pro-Russian authorities seek to ensure what they say will be a landslide victory for those who want this strategic peninsula to become part of Russia, they are making a simple pitch for voters: Your standard of living will rocket if you become part of Russia. One, entitled “Ten demands from the International Monetary Fund that will put Ukraine on its knees”, says the IMF will cause Ukrainian living standards, already lower than Russia’s, to plummet. Patriotic extracts from the Russian national anthem jostle for space with emotional condemnations of the new Ukrainian government in Kiev, the capital, highlighting what many ethnic Russians here say are its fascist tendencies.īut look carefully and you’ll find more practical appeals for people’s votes.
SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Outside the squat Soviet-era building that houses Sevastopol’s authorities, pro-Russian activists have covered the wall with a blizzard of flyers aimed at persuading residents of Crimea to vote to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia on Sunday.
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