Residents of Crimean city of Alupka ask Putin to help restore their city administration
Residents of the southern coastal city of Alupka are publicly asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring back the local government bodies that operated in the city through 2014. A corresponding video message is posted on YouTube and is being actively distributed via social networks.
The video features several dozen people of different ages, including children.
"Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, the residents of the southern Crimean city of Alupka are turning to you. Our city is dying. Please, we ask you to reconsider the issue of the administrative division of the city of Yalta, and to return local government to Alupka; the city council, the budget, and also the services that ensure the normal functioning of the city. Please save our beloved city, "one of Alupka residents says.
In addition, the video participants ask Putin for help in freeing the entrance to the Vorontsov Park, which the Vorontsov Park administration has enclosed with a fence, intending to impose an entrance fee.
"Thus, all the entrances to the city beaches are shut, as well as the entrances to the stop [for public transport] and the entry to the only place of rest in our city. We ask you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, to help ensure that our park is free for access, the way it was from the moment it was created," state the residents of Alupka.
After the Crimea fell under de facto Russian control, local self-government was abolished in Alupka. Thus, the city lost its own budget and its main authorities. And to solve large issues, the townspeople are forced to travel to Yalta, which is located 18 kilometers from Alupka.
The internationally recognized Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March of 2014 in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. The Kremlin has faced international condemnation for its annexation of the Peninsula, leading many western countries to impose economic sanctions against Russia. In the United Nations, only Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria recognize Crimea as a legitimate federal subject of Russia.