Russian-controlled civilians in Kherson are facing a blackout on the Internet and a plan to use the Russian currency – as possible indications that Moscow intends to exert long-term influence in the region in southern Ukraine. As Russian officials announced that the transition to the Russian currency for the Kherson region would begin on May 1, an information release released by the British Ministry of Defense stated that Russia was trying to legitimize “control of the city and surrounding areas through the establishment of a pro-Russian administration. ” Overall, the moves “are likely to be indicative of Russia’s intention to exert strong political and economic influence in Hersonissos in the long run,” the Pentagon said in a statement. He added that continued control of the territory would secure Russia’s commitment to Crimea and allow its forces to maintain progress in the north and west. Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Russian forces in Kherson were calling for a referendum, as Kyiv has warned. These reports have not been independently confirmed by the Washington Post. Speaking on Russian state television, Kirill Stremousov, a pro-Moscow politician who settled after the fall of the city, said there would be a four- to five-month transition from the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, which has been in use since 1996. Ukrainian currency was expected to circulate in parallel with the ruble for those months. Stremusov, Russia’s deputy chief of staff for the Kherson region, said the move was necessary because “the pension fund and the public treasury left the Kherson region” during the conflict. “We intend to introduce the ruble zone [to provide] “First of all, help to retirees, socially vulnerable sections of the population and, of course, civil servants,” Stremusov said in an interview with Rossiya 24. The Ukrainian government, meanwhile, has said that internet and mobile networks have been reduced in the Kherson region and part of the Zaporizhia region. Ukraine’s State Communications and Intelligence Service said in a statement that it was a “deliberate act” to “leave Ukrainians without access to the true information about the developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine.” NetBlocks, a civil society group that monitors Internet access worldwide, confirmed late Saturday on Twitter that “occupied southern Ukraine is now in the middle of an almost complete internet blackout.” Stremusov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti last week that “the issue of the return of the Kherson region to Ukraine” was “impossible.” The mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhaiev – who local authorities say has been replaced by Russians – said in an interview with the Ukrainian news agency NV on Thursday that he had seen “no indication” that Russia would hold a referendum to hold a separate referendum. People’s Republic of Hersonissos. as Moscow has done in the past in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. “What I see: There will be no referendum,” Kolykhaiev was quoted as saying. Instead, he said, Russia would “most likely” link the Kherson region with Crimea, which borders Kherson, and Russia annexed it in 2014. “It makes no sense [for Russia] “to create another ‘quasi-democracy,’” Kolykhaiev said. David L. Stern and Andrew Jeong contributed to this report.
