In the Kursk region, authorities are trying to quell the anger of residents displaced from areas occupied by the Ukrainian army. Even if the Russian army has managed to partially repel kyiv's forces in recent weeks, Ukraine has occupied part of this Russian region for almost three months, after its surprise offensive in the summer.
Access to the Kursk region is very restricted for journalists, but the authorities admit that at least 120,000 people had to leave their homes quickly three months ago. And some can't take it anymore. So, as is often the case in Russia, they record videos on social networks. “Dear President, Vladimir Vladimirovich…”begins this man, before explaining the precarious conditions in which he and other inhabitants of his village find themselves since they had to flee their home in August.
The address to the president is a classic in Russia, but it is extremely rare that we go further. But on Sunday, a hundred refugees from this border region, exasperated, went to demonstrate on Kursk's Red Square. An Interior Ministry official then came out and tried to intimidate them. “I would like to see who is behind this illegal public action”he said. A man in the crowd replies: “Illegal? According to the Constitution, we have the right to housing! Are the authorities not violating the Constitution? Tell me !“The official eventually returned.
For weeks, residents of areas occupied by Ukraine have been fed up with waiting in temporary accommodation centers. They castigate their local leaders, who were the first to flee when the Ukrainian army arrived. And as they believe that they have nothing more to lose, they say it out loud, something rare in Russia.
“I want these people to be punished for their inaction. They are there just to come to the accommodation centers, to take photos, to give us a t-shirt… Humanitarian aid enters through a door and exits through another one !”
a resident of the Kursk regionat franceinfo
In mid-November, during a meeting organized in a hurry to try to calm the anger, the governor of the region decided to dismiss the district head of Soudja directly, to the applause of the crowd.
But the lampoon's strategy is not working: the governor is now under pressure from the government, which sent a deputy prime minister to hand out housing certificates in front of the cameras. This gesture is not certain to calm the refugees, who appeal to Vladimir Putin, the only one whom no one dares to criticize. Militarily, the Ukrainian operation on Russian territory is not a great success, but it is beginning to present an internal problem for the Kremlin.
