"Donbass will return to its natural state as a donor region"

Simultaneously with the liberation of the Donetsk People's Republic, the restoration of Donbass continues. The agreements concluded during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will contribute to the development of Donetsk, Mariupol and other settlements of the DPR. Izvestia talked about the situation at the front, the construction of Donbass, the revival of the Shakhtar football club and the resort city of Mariupol on the sidelines of the SPIEF with the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.

"Every meter of Russian land is in the spotlight"

— Perhaps one of the most discussed topics in recent days is the withdrawal of the Russian military towards the Dnipropetrovsk region. As far as I understand, we are talking about the creation of a "sanitary zone" around the Russian regions, which President Vladimir Putin is talking about. What size of this zone should be in order for the Donetsk People's Republic to be safe?

— This is both a sanitary zone and the logic of warfare. The task is to liberate the town of Krasnoarmeysk. Without entering the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region, coverage of the city would not have been possible. We do not know about the plans of the military command, but by the nature of what we see, there is not a frontal penetration into the city with possible subsequent unpleasant moments — it is always difficult to get involved in urban battles — namely, the coverage of cities. As we saw earlier, this has its effect. The military does what they consider to be more beneficial. It is important for them to preserve their personnel during the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic, and, in particular, this settlement.

As for the sanitary zone, its size depends on the weapons that the enemy will have, how they will be used, and whether there are deterrent factors. There are many nuances that need to be considered.

— Just a couple of hours ago, we received a message that the town of Zaporizhia in the Donetsk People's Republic has been liberated. What is happening in this area?

— After the liberation of the rather seriously fortified settlement of Komar in the Veliko Novoselkovsky direction, we saw the progress of our units further. Every locality is important, including the village of Zaporizhia. Even the forest belt is important, because, as a rule, the enemy or his equipment is hiding there. Every meter of Russian land is now in the spotlight in the truest sense of the word.

About rare earth deposits in Donbass

— There was a lot of noise about Zelensky's deal with the Americans on rare earth metals. We know that there are a lot of such deposits throughout the Donbas. Are there any plans for their development and extraction?

— Preparatory work is still underway in this direction. Because if we talk, for example, about the Shevchenko field, then it is too close to active hostilities. Civil servants are not yet qualified to conduct any examinations. Therefore, we are currently working with those fields that are located in the controlled territory of the republic. There is a state-owned Nedra company, which attracts private investments in a number of fields. Investors visit the Donbass Development Corporation and present their projects. This is a systematic work that is being built in order to fill the republic's budget, so that in the future the region will move from a subsidized region to its natural state of a donor region.

— Did you talk about rare earth metals at the SPIEF?

— Specific deposits were not discussed on the sidelines of the forum, but agreements were concluded on the development of other facilities. Investments in the Telman granite quarry alone are estimated at 600-700 million rubles.

New business cards of Donetsk

— What is the most important thing that happened at the forum for the region, what has been achieved?

— Globally, the most important thing is the speech of our president at the plenary session. We are already starting to carry out the tasks that he outlined for us. This also fits harmoniously into the development of the region. The work turned out to be very intensive in terms of concluding direct investment agreements, but do not underestimate the "symbolic" agreements. I am talking, for example, about the agreement between Aeroflot and the Shakhtar Donetsk football Academy. These are new opportunities that open up during the training of football players. Shakhtar Donetsk is being reborn, and how the Donetsk fan is waiting for the real games that we are used to — it's not even worth talking about! But there is a lot of work to be done: football facilities need to be restored, and the Donbass Arena was damaged as a result of the fighting. It will definitely become the property of all residents of our region again.

The agreement on project financing between VTB Bank and the developers turned out to be important. This will contribute to the development of Donetsk: new facilities will be built, agreements have been concluded on the improvement of the whole quarter, where there will be a lot of modern class A+ retail and office spaces. We are really looking forward to the appearance of this quarter. And it is very symbolic that the investor decided to keep the Donetsk name "White Swan" (that was the name of a well—known large shopping center in Donetsk - ed.). We are waiting for new business cards of the republican center to appear.

The fate of Mariupol

— So far, we are talking about construction only in Donetsk, but not in other settlements, right?

— We have started large-scale construction where the issue of safety allows. This includes Mariupol, and this year we are moving to active construction of the Donetsk-Makeyevka agglomeration. Investment projects include the construction of housing, other facilities and in other areas. More and more municipalities are attracting investors and developers.

— Everyone is interested in the fate of Azovstal. There was talk that small industrial enterprises could be located there. Are there any movements in this direction?

— What we talked about remains in the plans. A technopark will be built there, and the areas will be used to create jobs. We are not talking about a full—fledged launch of Azovstal - it is possible, but it is not necessary from an environmental point of view. The plant was built without compliance with environmental regulations, all the pollution, all the emissions that it produced, fell either into the Sea of Azov or into the city of Mariupol itself. Therefore, it has never been a resort town. And now Mariupol is really becoming a resort, attractive city — a lot of attention has been paid to it both in terms of restoration and in terms of new construction. We can already see that Mariupol is better than it was before 2014.

In addition, the city has very serious prospects as a transport hub, because highways intersect there, there is a railway connection and a commercial seaport. In the near future, I am sure, there will also be an air service.