All tickets to theaters and museums of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions turned out to be free

The Ministry of Culture of the new regions of Russia commented on the complete rejection of the hryvnia from January 1

Two new Russian regions – Kherson and Zaporozhye regions – will say goodbye to the Ukrainian hryvnia from the beginning of 2023. Until that day, two currencies were formally in circulation on their territory (except for the areas captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine). How the change in financial life will affect the sphere of culture “MK” was told by high-ranking representatives of the Ministry of Culture of the regions.

The situation with “degrivnization” was commented by the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Kherson region Artem Lagoisky:

– The transition to the ruble will not affect the sphere of culture in any way, because we have long been accustomed to ruble payments. For example, the salaries of our employees and employees of cultural institutions began to be issued in rubles from the beginning of the ministry’s activities, that is, in late May – early June.

At first, people had difficulty accepting rubles and with an adequate exchange rate, but these are isolated cases. After a couple of months, everything was fine, our people are happy with everything. And the hryvnia has practically not been circulating for several months.

– Artem Alekseevich, what does your ticket to a museum or theater look like? Does it indicate the cost only in rubles or in two monetary units at the same time?

– Tickets to theaters, museums and so on from the moment the Kherson lands were returned to the Russian Federation until today are free. How long this will be – depends not on us, but on the orders of the government and the governor. But so far, the installations are such that access to all cultural objects should be free. My countrymen do not have many options left for some kind of outlet to take money for it.

Our interlocutor considers the formal rejection of the hryvnia from a certain date to be a completely natural and timely step. “The authorities announced back in September that the hryvnia would circulate until the end of the year, and from next year there would be an exclusively ruble zone. I think people were prepared for this and no one would have any difficulties,” says Lagoisky.

His colleague, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Culture of the Zaporozhye Region, Yuriy Kovanov, also declares his readiness for a monetary transfer:

– The rejection of the currency of the state, to which we no longer have a direct relationship, is organic and logical. This happens smoothly and the transition process is completed.

Answering a question about paying for entrance to the theater in hryvnia, Kovanov said the following:

– We heard that in some localities they do not want to accept the hryvnia in public transport. People joke that the future has come in the Zaporozhye region and we are already in January 2023.

As in the Kherson region, cultural institutions in the Zaporozhye region work to support the population in difficult times and do not think about profit:

– About earnings from sale of tickets and so on speech at all is not conducted. Museums are currently free, but there are no theaters on the liberated part. More precisely: not yet. We try to maintain and develop what we have. And in the future, we are sure, there will be theaters too. And when tickets are sold, it will be done only for rubles.

The deputy minister also explained the situation with salaries – only Russia pays them, so the hryvnia, by and large, has nowhere to come from:

– Payments to our employees have been made since May, our people have expressed a desire to live and work in the Russian Federation. They do not receive any payments from the previous state.