Samstag, 5. September 2015

The Crimean Camgirl and the Annexation

This is the final one of my series of fates of some women in Russia, some positive, some sad. The last one is about Natalia. I don't know Natalia personally, I know her story only through another friend.

Natalia was born in Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine). Some years ago, she moved to Crimea, the peninsula which last year was occupied by Russian military forces and finally annexed by Russia.
Tourists packing the tiny beach of Alupka (Crimea) in September of 2012
Natalia is in her mid-thirties, she has two children from two different men. The first man ran away very soon, with the second, she moved to Crimea. The Russian annexation divided the couple. Her husband didn't want to live in Russia, so he left Crimea and moved back to Dnipropetrovsk. She wanted to stay in Crimea, hoping for a better life in a supposedly more wealthy and stable Russia.

When Natalia was younger, she lived well, working online for over ten years as a "cam girl" for erotic internet chats (my friend called it "virtual sex").

She earned 2,000 dollars per month which was and is a very good salary, no matter if in Ukraine or Russia. She also bought herself a good car. One of her "clients" had borrowed her the money to buy this car, and she just chose to not give it back to him.

"On these chats, there are some lonely men who are just happy that a woman talks to them at all, so if you find the right guy, they just keep sending you money", said my friend.

Now, without a husband and living in a very small flat with her son, she can't work as a cam girl anymore, she does not want her son to know that.
The harbour of Sevastopol, where the Russian Black Sea fleet was stationed also during the years of Ukrainian regency
Since the annexation, prices keep rising in Crimea. One reason are the salaries for people who work for the government. They were raised to be on level with salaries in the rest of Russia. More money to spend => prices go up, natural inflation. Further reasons for the rising prices are the terrible devaluation of the Ruble which has made all imported goods very expensive, and the fact that Crimea cannot be supplied with goods anymore over its mainland connection because that connection is on Ukrainian (now foreign) territory.

Non-government workers who depend on what the economy gives them mostly didn't get a raise. Natalia's main job is in a kindergarten where she earns a mere 7,000 Rubles a month (not even 100 Euros), which is simply not enough to even rent a flat nor to feed the kids. She even has a credit to pay.

Since the former friends Ukraine and Russia are at war with each other (not officially) and Ukraine will most likely not recognize Crimea as a Russian territory anytime soon, Natalia cannot even think of trying to sue the husband who fled to Ukraine after the annexation. Working as a cleaning lady, she tries to get by, close to desperation. 

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