The Russian administration which controls the Ukrainian coastal city of Kherson intends to introduce the ruble there, to replace the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, from May 1, a local Russian official said Thursday.
“From May 1, we will move to the ruble zone,” said Kirill Stremoussov, deputy to the president of the Russian local administration established since the capture of this locality by the Moscow army at the start of the invasion of Russia. Ukraine, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency.
The two currencies, ruble and hryvnia, will be able to circulate in parallel during a transition period that could last four months, he said. “Afterwards, we will completely switch to regulations in rubles,” he said.
No senior Russian official immediately confirmed these remarks.
The city of Kherson, close to Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, is the first and so far the only city of Ukrainian importance that the Russians have taken complete control of since the start of their invasion of Ukraine on February 24. . They claimed to have taken it on March 3.
kyiv also accuses Russia of wanting to organize in this region – as in the neighboring region of Zaporijjia – a biased referendum on independence.
This was done in the Donbass in 2014, when pro-Russian separatists, backed by Moscow, took partial control of it. The separatists then proclaimed the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence Moscow recognized just before invading Ukraine on February 24.
“There will be no People’s Republic of Kherson. If anyone wants a new annexation, more powerful sanctions will hit Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 22.
The Russian Defense Ministry claims to have brought “a peaceful life” back to Kherson. But anti-Russian and anti-referendum demonstrations take place there regularly, according to Ukrainian media sites showing supporting photos and videos. No foreign journalist has access to this city, which had nearly 300,000 inhabitants before the war.