Patriotism — in the past; friendship — for ever. How Milove, which is on the Russian border, was going to vote Part 1

Milove on the eve of the election a year ago

People are more worrying about how to survive winter than who to vote for in the most eastern district administrative center in Ukraine. Residents of Milove in the Luhansk region buy logs, dry sheep excrements to heat houses, and trust neither Ukraine, nor Russia.

What choice would be made by the village which is located 150 km from Lihansk, 800 km from Kyiv, and Russia is just across the street?

Let, at least, women go to the market

Ukrainian Milove is separated from Russian town of Chertkov by the railway. The state border is along Druzhby Narodov Street, sometimes through flats, sometimes through kitchen gardens, and families...

Each resident of Milove has at least one relative who lives “on Russia”, not “in Russia”. This is the way they say that, and they did not use the names of the countries according to the Soviet tradition. It was the war in the Donbas that had changed the situation.

Locals used to ask, “Where do you live?” And answered, “There”. “And where do you work?” — “Here”. “Where did you buy the panties?” — “There. They sell pink and cheap ones”, Marina, a sole trader, said. She was born in Chertkov, but has spent all her life in Milove.

It was cold in her shop. As all the other shops in the village, it was not heated. As the majority of locals whose youth was spent in the Soviet Union, she recalled that time with nostalgia. Marina said that only now she understood what the right to work, which she heard much about at the university, meant.

A year ago people in Milove lived on pensions and social payments except several very few people who worked for state organizations. Young people left Milove to earn money. Those who stayed worked in kitchen gardens of disabled old women. Business was dying in Milove, as Marina said.

- Trade reflects the state policy. If everything is normal in the state, I would not talk to you. I would work.



Photo: Clothes shop closes at 12 in Milove

Since March 2015, Russians may come to Ukraine only if they have external passports. It was a blow to the economy of the village which survived thanks to the market since the time big enterprises had closed. Locals recalled that in the past the market stretched from the meat factory to the railway crossing, along the whole Druzhby Narodov Street. Sellers from the whole district came to the market; people came from Chertkov with population of 45,000 whereas only 5,000 people live in Milove.

At the same time, some Russians managed to get to Milove with internal passports. There were some “tricks”, for example, a visit to “the dentist' whose office was located on the Russian territory, so residents of Milove went to the doctor “on Russia”.
- We earn money at the expense of Russia. Let our clients visit the market, at least, twice a week, from 6 am to 2 pm. We don't want anything else. Let only women come, not men, a representative of the Arminian community (as he introduced himself) said.



Photo: Those who do not go to the market sell their staff in the street

They did not want to speak about smuggling. They did not deny that it existed, but there were no “very criminal people”. The whole village would get to know about them at once.

–  It is possible to take two bottles of alcohol across the bridge. Those who sell near the train, bring packages of beer. They are caught, fined, but this is the only way for them to earn money, said Tamara Ivanivna who had lived in Milove her whole life.



Photo: The market on Ukrainian-Russian border — along Druzhby Narodov Street

Russia was constructing railway to bypassing the Ukrainian territory. Then some people in Milove would loose the temporary chance to earn, some of them would occur far from civilization.

– When the railway is closed, we will turn into a big village, said Ivan Divitayev, editor-in-chief of the “Slovo Khliboroba” newspaper.



Photo: There was Lenin bust on the pedestal outside the school building


Our river Donets separated two villages

“You can't imaging how closely we are connected with this Chertkov”, this is how the relations with Russia were explained by locals. Residents of Luhansk region and neighbouring regions of Russia used to come to Milove to the festival of Druzhby Street. That autumn it was not held.

–  We gave vows of eternal love to each other. Then suddenly Russia became an aggressor. There was a high-level scandal, and our situation got worse, Marina summed up. 

Svitlana Oslavska, UP

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