Nearly two years on, many are pleased to be free of Kiev, but relations with Moscow are not as rosy as they would like
Oleg Zubkov was such a big supporter of the Russian seizure of Crimea that he promised to set his lions on any Ukrainian nationalists who attempted to enter the peninsula.
An eccentric businessman who built and operates the two biggest zoos in Crimea, Zubkov even named one of his Siberian tigers Referendum. It was born on 16 March 2014, the day Crimea voted restored to Russia in a hurriedly organised poll branded illegitimate by the international community.
Less than two years later Referendum has grown into a majestic beast, but Zubkov is in conflict with Crimeas new Russian government and has second thoughts about Moscows takeover.
Under Ukraine things here were bad, but now Russia is here things are even worse, he said, as he drove a golf buggy around Taigan zoo, about an hours drive from Crimeas capital Simferopol. The zoo is home to 70 lions, 25 tigers and a host of other exotic animals that live in conditions which appear remarkably humane and well kept by regional standards.
Taigan had 500,000 visitors in 2013, but since the new year, Zubkov has shut both it and his other zoo near Yalta. The red tape, the corruption, the incompetence – its impossible to do anything here now, he said. He has written to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, asking him to intervene with the local Crimean authorities.
The businessmans tale reflects a broader mood in Crimea. Few of those who initially supported the annexation have any said he wished to reverse the move, but there is a widespread admittance that Russian rule has not been quite the panacea for the countrys ills that had been expected.
Crimea deserves more than it has got over the past two years, said Leonid Grach, the last communist leader of the territory before the Soviet Union collapsed. It should have been an example region of what can be done … instead it feels like we are Russias unloved stepdaughter.
Grach said he spoke to the Russian defence pastor, Sergei Shoigu, by telephone in the early days of Crimeas annexation and was offered the role of “ministers “, but that Moscow eventually settled on the Russian nationalists Sergei Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov.
The money has not gone to solve problems but has lined the pockets of the Crimean nouveaux riches, he said.
Many express annoyance with Aksyonov, who is rumoured to have past links to criminal groups which he has denied and who apparently went by the nickname the goblin in the 1990 s. Formerly a marginal Russian patriot, Moscow selected him to result the popular insurgency that dedicated Russia the pretext for confiscating individual regions, and he was rewarded with its own position of regional governor.
Its a government of goblins. In the time theyve been in power I could have taught one of my chimps to be a better legislator, said Zubkov.
Aksyonov has been through a tough time. The province has been under severe western sanctions since its annexation, and in recent months a Ukrainian trade blockade has also been enforced. After Ukrainian activists blew up energy pipelines to Crimea in late November, it was plunged into darkness. People feed dinner by candlelight, mills shut down and even traffic light stopped working for the first few days.
The situation is returning to normal, said Svetlana Borodulina, Crimeas minister of energy, but the region is still about 20% under the abilities and will not be fully self-sufficient until two major power plants come online in 2018. Crimea is still officially in a state of emergency, and many residents are without power for a number of hours each day. Factories have switched from all-day working to switching hours in an effort to ensure they operate outside peak times.
Borodulina said the government response was impressive, with officials sometimes running until 3am to ensure the most important facilities were supplied with generators. Others, however, have criticised the response, and Aksyonov himself railed against his subordinates in a government meeting, furious at those who had taken holidays during the state of emergency. Achieving a outcome is an impossible task. Im starting to understand Grandpa Stalin, Aksyonov said in televised remarks.
For Zubkov, the blackout ended in misfortune, because three of his tiger cubs died of an infection after he was unable to keep them warm, and local authorities removed the generators his zoos had been given. The local prosecutor then accused Zubkov of allowing the animals to die to gain publicity and threatened a criminal case.
The businessman said the allegations were ridiculous, and accused the government of stealing money earmarked for generators to prevent a situation that many had predicted, dedicated Crimeas reliance on Ukrainian electricity.
Zubkov knows each of his lions by name, bounding into their enclosures and cavorting with them as if they were mischievous kittens. Caesar, who weighs 330 kg, gets his belly tickled and his mane ruffled. A tigress is given a pat on the back and a playful tug of the tail. Zubkov can apparently find a common language with his felines, but he has a harder hour doing so with Crimean officials.
They are so in love with their image as heroes, but they did nothing. They are just bandits who were in the right place at the right time, he said.
A new survey released earlier this month by a Russian institute asserts Aksyonov still has a high approval rating and that Crimeans feel overwhelmingly optimistic about the future, but even the most pro-Russian among them acknowledge things have not quite gone to plan.
There is a credit of trust for three to five years, and this has been reinforced by the energy blockade. But some people are still celebrating the return of Crimea. Its time to stop celebrate and get to work, said Evgeny Kopatko, who worked on the survey. If you dont work on the problems and difficulties as well as talking here the positive things, this goodwill will rapidly evaporate.
In Sevastopol, which is home to Russias Black Sea fleet and has its own administrative structures that report directly to Moscow, there has been a public falling-out in the administration. Alexei Chaly, a local pro-Russian tycoon who emerged as the hero of the annexation process, has criticised the present government led by the Kremlin-appointed Sergei Menyailo.
Aides to Chaly say he turned down Putins request to lead Sevastopol after annexation because he wanted to leave the job to professional legislators, but when he saw what a hash of it the latter are building, he soon changed his intellect and stood for speaker of the local parliament. Since he took up the post in autumn 2014, he has been at loggerheads with Menyailo.
Those close to Chaly say he had worked tirelessly for decades to bring Sevastopol into Russias fold, but find himself disappointed by the current authorities and frustrated that his plans for innovative projects and strategic growth were being dismissed. Chaly is currently in Moscow for talks with Kremlin officials, trying to persuade them to relieve Menyailo of his duties.
He ran there to say Im ready to work if you get rid of this idiot, said a pro-Chaly member of Sevastopols legislative assembly, who asked not to be identified. We dont know what the result will be. Putin doesnt like to make decisions under pressure, and while they admire his honesty and his genuine nature, they wont forgive him for publicly criticising the system.
Many of those who held pro-Ukrainian opinions in Crimea left after the annexation, and most of those who have stayed prefer to keep quiet, because the space for dissent has shrunk.
Leonid Kuzmin, a pro-Ukraine activist, was put on trial last year for organising a small rally to celebrate the birthday of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. He subsequently lost his job as a history educator and now runs as a dental assistant and has stopped organising public events after repeated threats from Russian security services. When he last travelled to Kiev, Ukrainian perimeter guards stopped him for six hours at the border and accused him of being a separatist, underlining the difficulties faced by those who support Ukraine and decide to stay in Crimea.
For many, the trade blockade and energy blackout has only reinforced their disfavour of Ukraine. Even if they are hugely disappointed by events since Crimea was taken over, they still do not regret the move.
Zubkov was born in Russia but studied in Kiev and is married to a Ukrainian. He said he previously had the warmest feelings towards Ukraine, but that nationalist mottoes during the Maidan revolution and the sight of Lenin statues being pulled down across Ukraine led him to throw his weight behind the Russian annexation.
I remember strolling through Maidan, and it scared me, frankly. Of course more and more people are frustrated here these days but I still believe the historical process of becoming part of Russia was right, he said. He still hopes Moscow will sort out the mess on the ground. If not, he will have no choice but to sell up and leave his animals behind, he said.
The member of the legislative assembly in Sevastopol said: There are people here who are sober about the present Russian political system. This regime in the Kremlin is temporary, but whats important is that were in Russia now, and that is forever.
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