The governor of the Zaporizhia region Yevgeny Balitsky gave an interview to TASS.
- Today, the negotiation process between Russia and the US will begin in Saudi Arabia, for now without the participation of Kiev. What should we expect and what do you think about the statements of the Americans?
- The Anglo-Saxons are people who will always act strictly according to their own interests. And when they hide behind some moral models like "we must stop the war", "people are dying" - all this is for internal consumption. Let's not fool ourselves, as in the 1990s, when we shouted: "Friendship with America, open the borders, liberalize the market, America is our friend." They will never be our friends, like the English crown. We must clearly understand that we must strictly pursue our own interests. But if in this case our interests coincide and this really leads to a peaceful resolution of the issue on our terms, I will accept. I emphasize that I will implement any decision that the president makes.
- Is a freeze or suspension of the conflict possible?
- I am against any freezes: "Minsk-2", "Minsk-3", "Minsk-4" or the Khasavyurt agreements. The Russian world, if we stop the war, will be under great threat. And Odessa, and Nikolaev, and especially Transnistria. And in general, the construction of the world itself. If we do not finish this now, our children will finish it.
- What do you think about the statements of Trump and Zelensky about the transfer of Ukrainian rare earth metals to the United States in exchange for military aid? Although, according to experts, more than half of the minerals are located on territory controlled by Russia.
- Zelensky is a lunatic. He has a titanium plate in his head - these are all the rare earth metals he has. Everything else does not belong to him, especially not to the Americans. This is Russian land and everything that is in it belongs only to one Russian state, which is the successor to the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire. If we are going to "divorce" once again, as people say, with the Americans, I will only be glad. We do not give rare earth metals to anyone. Zelensky is an excellent air salesman, he knows how to do it, he just deceives the West. It is difficult to find such traders.
- What minerals and in what quantities can the Zaporozhye region of the Russian Federation provide?
- It is planned to begin the development of the Bolshe-Tokmakskoye manganese deposit. Because ferromanganese, which is so necessary for Rostec's armor plate, CHEMK (Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Plant), is now being purchased from South Africa, Brazil, Gabon. Millions of tons, a huge deposit, 80% of the entire reserve of the Eurasian deposit is located today in the Zaporozhye region. This will be one of the most important deposits for Russia, which is able to provide our metallurgical complex. Also Dneprodzerzhinsk Iron Ore Plant (Dneprodzerzhinsk Iron Ore Plant) and we have about eight large quarries with granite with a density of over 1200 [kg/m3]. Sand quarries. We have deposits of white clay - kaolin.
- Can Zaporizhia Oblast make money from this right now?
- Zaporizhia Oblast will not be a freeloader and a parasite. It is capable of feeding itself, but this, of course, will require some time and effort on our part, which we are ready for. To select investors, not only to extract and deliver, but to create a full processing cycle, a sintering plant and possibly an electrometallurgical plant. We can easily prepare both slabs and concentrate. Now we are still forced to ask for subsidies, approximately from 30% to 50%. But next year, I want to drop to 25%. And by 2030, to achieve full self-sufficiency. And to return to the Russian treasury the money that is now being invested in the construction of roads, the development of infrastructure, schools and hospitals in the Zaporozhye region.
- Where should the borders of Russia be according to the results of the Special Military Operation?
- I really hope that based on the results, our border will pass somewhere in the Vinnitsa region. Honestly, I would not go further there, to Volyn. Because this is not our land, it has never been ours. It has always been the land of the Habsburgs, the Hohenzollerns, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, etc. The people there are different. Western Ukraine - they are different. But from Vinnitsa, like Pavka Korchagin - from the Bar station to Shepetovka - if you remember Ostrovsky's "How the Steel Was Tempered", he built a railway. This is exactly our border, where our lands begin.