The federal district "Novorossiya" in the occupied territories: what is it for the Kremlin and what consequences can be expected

 

In the near future, Russia will create a so-called "federal district", which will include the occupied territories of Ukraine - Crimea, as well as the partially occupied regions of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Luhansk. Such a district will be called "Novorossiya", Yevhen Balicki, who was appointed by Russia as the manager of the partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhya, said the other day.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a decision on the creation of a new district, Balicki, as he said, does not know, but that position will be "for a specific person", he said in a comment to the Russian agency "RIA Novosti".

The press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, commented on this statement by Balitsky. According to him, decisions on the creation of a new federal district "with Donbass and Novorossiya" have not yet been made.

The head of the Lugansk Regional Military Administration, Artem Lisogor, wrote on his Telegram channel that "at the legislative level, the federal district is not a subject of the Russian Federation and is not provided for by the Constitution of Russia." They are simply considered administrative-territorial units of a new type - without legal status".

 

"Levers of direct control for Putin"

 

Serhiy Lishenko, deputy of the regional council of Zaporozhye, told "Novosti iz Azov" that the creation of a so-called federal district in the occupied territories will allow Russian President Putin to directly interfere in administrative processes.

"Federal districts are not an official administrative territorial division of the Russian Federation. They are divided not only according to the territorial principle, not according to the size of their territories, but more according to the unity of certain categories. For example, there is the Central Federal District - that's Moscow and everything near Moscow. There is the North Caucasus Federal District, which is the territory of the North Caucasus. It is incomparably smaller compared to the Siberian Federal District, but the specificity of the territory, the presence of certain management features, creates the need for a more detailed study of the territory.

Therefore, the Novorossiya Federal District is now being created. Because it is not necessary for territorial division, but for administration, for the work of competent authorities in this territory. Moreover, the leadership of the federal district, if I remember correctly, generally reports directly to the President of the Russian Federation. This gives him the ability to bypass the entire control system and issue commands directly. Of course, all the power is concentrated in Putin's hands anyway, but it is a mechanism that gives him the possibility to almost directly intervene in the processes within certain territories," Lishenko explained.

 

"Propaganda effect"

 

Due to the creation of the so-called federal district, local occupation officials may face obstacles in communication with the Kremlin, the deputy believes.

 

"This is Balicki's problem, how he will solve his problems with the leadership of the federal district. If earlier he dealt with them directly with Moscow, now the leadership of the federal district will appear, which will have the appropriate powers. But that is Balicki's problem, and not, relatively speaking, the people living in the occupied territory," Lišenko says.

In general, Russia is counting on the propaganda effect of the creation of the so-called Novorossiysk district, the MP pointed out. In his opinion, the aim of the conquerors is to show that they have taken many territories.

"For the residents of the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhya region, I don't think it will fundamentally change anything, because it is only a propaganda arrangement of the structure within the Russian Federation. Why propaganda? Because the entire territory of the Russian Federation is divided into certain federal districts, and many had the question that it is "part of the Russian Federation" (occupied territory - ed.) directly within the state. So why aren't they connected to our statewide network of the same federal districts? That is, there are somehow personified, somehow, relatively speaking, in Ukrainian. Now it will be a new district - "the territory of the Russian Federation has increased by a whole district." If we look at the map and see what is happening with the Siberian districts, these are the scales in which the Russians are used to thinking. That is, the federal district is a separate territory. And if a whole new federal district is joining now, that means they've taken a lot of territory. This is purely a propaganda effect," Lisenko explained.

 

"Fix Occupation"

 

Serhiy Khlan, deputy of the Kherson regional council, reminded that the idea of creating the so-called "Novorossiya" has been promoted by Russian President Putin since 2014. He calls "strange" the desire to include not only the partially occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Luhansk and Donetsk regions, but also the annexed Crimea.

According to him, the Russian authorities want to mark the occupation of Ukrainian territories in this way. But, in his opinion, this will not mean a ceasefire.

"The creation of the Federal District of Novorossiya is like fixing the victory and fulfilling the purpose of a special military operation, as they call it, and practically a full-scale invasion. That is, if this decision passes, that is, a new federal district "Novorossiya" is created, it will mean that Putin is satisfied with this line of demarcation. In my opinion, this will not mean a ceasefire. I think that these are still preparatory maneuvers by Putin's side for possible negotiations and possible fixing of the front line and "freezing" of the conflict. This counteraction by Putin on the occasion of the peace summit, which will be held soon, and the very promotion of this thesis will speak of Putin's readiness to end the war. With such a thesis, he will go to the international community. It is possible with China's help to promote the idea of ending active military operations in order to create this "Novorossiya" as a federal district," Hlan believes.

 

Is the Russian Federation giving up Crimea?

 

Crimean historian and political scientist Yevgenia Horyunova told "Novosti iz Azov" that Russia initially included the occupied peninsula in the so-called Crimean Federal District. It was liquidated, and now in Russia Crimea is considered part of the Southern Federal District.

If the occupied peninsula is included in the so-called "Novorossiya", then it will be the center of the district, she believes.

 

"Unify all the occupied territories, and they already admit it, so that later it would be easier to return to Ukraine, not in parts, but in its entirety. This is how I see it, that with this union they are actually renouncing Crimea. There is a diplomatic language, there is such a language. That is, in fact, they are talking about the fact that, in principle, we are even ready to return Crimea. Under what conditions? Well, that's another question. This is not a signal to Ukraine, it is a signal to the West. In other words, you can see that in some way we are already ready for something," the political scientist believes.

 

"Conquer Odessa and Mykolaiv"

 

However, the intention to create the so-called Novorossiysk district means that Russia is not giving up on the idea of capturing Nikolaev and Odesa, he adds.

"For them, the Novorossiysk project is very important, because Putin and his entire entourage constantly say that "all of this southeast and south are ours, these are Russian lands" and so on, the text states. Therefore, they did not give up their dream of capturing Mykolaiv and Odesa so that it would all be under Russia.

This is "Novorossiya", which has existed since the time of the Tsars. Although there was no "Novorossiya", there was the Tavrijska gubernija, those are other things. But this is a project, they invented it, it has to be implemented somehow. They cannot put it into practice, because we see that they seem to have the Kherson region, but without Kherson. They have part of the Zaporizhia region, but without Zaporozhye. Therefore, the big question is - what kind of regions are these without regional centers?" Horjunova remarked.

 

Risks for the Kremlin

 

Igor Eidman, a Russian sociologist and publicist from Germany, noted that the project of creating the so-called "Novorossiya" has an exclusively ideological concept without any historical preconditions.

"The concept supposedly dates back to the time of Catherine II, when some barren lands were developed by the Russians. All this, of course, is nonsense that has no connection with reality. But it is used to ideologically justify Russian aggression, annexation and crimes in Ukraine," said Eidman.

The sociologist believes that Russia will continue to use the ideological brand of "New Russia" in its propaganda. However, it may not be cost-effective to create a new federal district, Eidman added.

"They thereby separate the occupied territories from Russia into some new entity. And that essence demonstrates the colonial policy of Russia - that it occupied something and then created something that didn't exist, but it did. By the way, that might be convenient, because when they have to return the occupied territories to Ukraine, there will be one less federal district in Russia and it will simply be returned to Ukraine. So, I think that's one of the reasons why they wouldn't go ahead with creating this district," Eidman explained.

In 2020, Putin said that he considers part of the Ukrainian lands to be "Novorossiya". In particular, he claimed that the regions of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Nikolaev, Kherson and Odesa are one region with the center in Novorossiysk. Therefore, this region is called "Novorossiya". These lands were transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1921-22, when the Soviet Union was created, Putin said, explaining this by the Communists' desire to "raise the percentage of the proletariat in Ukraine."