Nimbly as mouse, unnoticed quietly sneak from the dank greyness of gloomy streets and rather dive into the home cozy mink… towards the new fears and anxieties. It happened, that life of compulsory inhabitants of “LPR” has turned into horrible and sticky tangle of fears and phobias.
Excessive militarization, forcely encouraged alien “values” and ideology, the feeling of despair of knowing that “nothing could be changed”… All this factors don’t strengthen psycho condition of ragged souls of suffering Luhansk dwellers at all.
The residents of uncontrolled territories of Luhansk region are daily stressed and emotional overloaded, because of specific of life in the occupation. Forced to stay there to live, eternal hostages of imaginary and grounded fears.
What residents of “LPR” are afraid of more? The answers are in the research of informator.lg.ua.
“I will come home and call you”: Luhansk inhabitants are afraid to photo and talk on the phone.
The simple walk on the streets of the occupied cities can become unpleasant and dangerous adventure. Why to walk and behave yourself like “before the war” is so horribly and dangerously? The student Luhansk dweller Elena tells: “Not so long ago I with my friend went for a walk in the city and we decided to make some pictures of old houses in Kambrod (old district of Luhansk with a big number of cottages – ed.). We were noisy and rustling leaves, clank everything around on my “Canon”.
Further, according to girl’s words, a few “militants” came to them and began to wave butts and blame couple in the espionage. “I was really scared, they said that maybe we were spying and cried on us with swear words very loud”. After that, girl told, that militaries took away her camera under the pretext of cleaning the memory card and calmly went away, threatening to “send into the cellar at the moment”. So, the girl was deprived with her photo camera and got one more fear – to walk and make pictures in the native city.
This is not the only one case and smart Luhansk dwellers, remembering the story with arrested by separatists journalist Maria Varfolomeeva on January 2015, making pictures of houses, forced to refuse from the careless photosets, as minimum in the districts of separatists’ location (and they’re almost everywhere in the “capital of republic”).
Here is one more feature of life in the occupation: people try not to talk on the phone on the streets and in transport. “I will come home and call you” – this phrase is often heard in crowded places. It is hard to say if this feature of communication is because of phobias of military time. But memories of summer 2014 is so fresh in the mind of dwellers, when person, communicating on the telephone in rare minutes of the appearing of mobile connection could be mistaken for the corrector of enemy fire. It is more calm in today’s Luhansk, than a year ago, but inhabitants still prefer to call to friends and discuss cases on the telephone, sitting in the kitchens of their houses.
It better to forget about night romantic for a while
Only one phrase can describe the attempts to walk in the evening or even night city – “at one’s own risk”. And really gone on a spree night romantics, violated the curfew, are stopped by valiant “peace officers” and sent “into the cellar”. Somebody is released home in the morning after that, somebody is engaged to public works and somebody disappears without a trace at all.
To walk outside the city is more dangerous idea. Here the lovers of the beautiful Donbass landscapes have the opportunity to find out richly fertilized by adherents of “Russian World” lethal minefields or to stumble on a stretching. So, people have to sit at home, using principle “it’s better for us to stay alive, we remain unharmed”.
Delations on the neighbors and lost passport
Can acting “power” be criticized? Are you mad? Such libertinism sometimes is cruelty punished. The freedom of speech? No, we didn’t hear about it. The time has come back, when people say aloud about rulers caught the power like about deadmen – or good or nothing. And real critic sounds only with whisper in the same kitchens. Why? It’s fearfully! And it’s not a surprise. The practice of delations as in times of totalitarian past is encouraged in “LPR”. One acquaintance told that unknown people went on the porch and in conversations with the neighbors advised to call on the telephones of the “Ministry of State Security of LPR” if “dissatisfied” will be found. The contacts of “MSS” were left at the moment by these people on the hand-made flyer. The mass of volunteer stool pigeons ais also there. Such detractors find easy way to quit with “bad” neighbors. It’s enough only to blame them that yesterday evening they sang the National State Anthem of Ukraine. Absurd? Reality!
One more reason to live in fear is the rampant crime and lawlessness. Formally, “police” is acting in “republic”, other structures, created to imitate the support of order in the cities, are working too. In fact, the criminals and “defenders” are the same people, wearing camouflage and weapon. One case has happened in one little town of “LPR”. Unknown snatched the handbag with documents and telephone from one girl. The patrol car arrived on the call and soon “bandit” was caught. An employee of one of the military units of the city has turned up as robber. “Policemen” recognized their acquaintance in him, joyfully welcomed guy and wagged a finger at him for the picture, gave back a handbag to girl, but categorically refused to fix the criminal and accept the application from the victim in a manner “get lost from here and be glad that everything good ended”.
One more fear of the inhabitants of uncontrolled territories is to lose documents. A person, living in the occupation, can’t cross the block-posts and remove outside “on a Freedom” without passport, he or she can be detained till the moment of identification by “policemen”. It is impossible to get humanitarian aid without documents and very hard to get medical.
It’s real to recover lost Ukrainian passport in “LPR” without leaving the “republic”. This service costs 3000 UAH, to paste in photo is from 1000 to 2000 UAH. People, who rearranged connections in the passport offices of, for example, Lisichansk and Severodonetsk do this “business”.
Helpline or alcohol? Or how to struggle with stress?
“People, living for a long time in the occupation, anyway need qualified psychological support”, considers the psychologist from Luhansk, wished to remain anonymous. According to her words, the psyche of the residents of occupied territories more faster “wears out”, because of life in the permanent tension and stress. Moreover, the specialist noticed that it’s hard enough to get qualified psychological aid on the territory of “republic”. “A lot of good specialists went out on the controlled territory. In general, free volunteer lines – the “helplines” exist in Ukraine. Person can phone there and got help or advice in difficult and hard situation”, considers the psychologist.
To use the outstretched helping hand or to seek the advice of a psychologist on the “hot line” is the half of the road to solve the problem. Unfortunately, a lot of people prefer to fight with stress with the help of strong alcohol, dooming themselves in terrible trap.
Lilith Rebrova for Informator.lg.ua