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DNR officials determined that deterioration in Ukrainian goods is due to the economic blockade of the Donbass. DNR Economic Development Minister Yevgeniya Samokhina told us, “At the moment, food trucks lie idle at Ukrainian checkpoints for 7 to 14 hours. Food is stored in inappropriate conditions, so, it quickly deteriorates. If the truck had come to the DNR immediately, well, there’d be no problems with the quality of the goods”. The DNR Sanitary and Epidemiological Service (SES) chief physician Sergei Bondarenko reported, “It’s extremely difficult to track products in the Ukraine due to the blockade and to see if local doctors have checked its quality. People have increasingly entered hospital with food poisoning due to spoiled food, often caused by foods sold at natural markets. It’s possible that some of these tainted items came into the DNR from the Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, people in war-torn Gorlovka found original uses for a number of Ukrainian products. For example, people only buy Roshen candy (owned by junta strongman P A Poroshenko) as gag gifts or as spoofs. Gorlovka resident Yelena Prikhodko told us, “We have a lot of Roshen candy in the shops, but nobody buys it. Why should we give money to Poroshenko? Let those jumpers on the Maidan smack on those dubious sweets. Now, we only buy Roshen candy as a spoof or a reproof. If you give someone Roshen candy, they immediately see it as a “black mark”… a sign that they did something wrong. Therefore, they hasten to correct the mistake or apologise”. In general, according to Gorlovka homies, almost no Ukrainian products are on offer in the shops. Local businessman Nikita Barinov said to us, “Ukraine goods became unprofitable in Gorlovka because of corruption at the Ukrainian checkpoints. To bring in 100 kilos of sugar, I needed to bribe the Ukrainian cops 10,000 Grivnya (31,060 Roubles. 2,874 Renminbi. 29,800 INR. 450 USD. 594 CAD. 615 AUD. 395 Euros. 287 UK Pounds). For that kind of money, I could bring in hundreds of kilos of sugar from Russia. Therefore, now, we only bring in goods from friendly countries”.
The junta transport blockade of the Donbass began on 21 January 2015. In March, the Ukrainian State Border Service of Ukraine stopped traffic of vehicles with food into the DNR and LNR. A full transport blockade began 18 June; all traffic in and out of the Peoples Republics to junta-controlled areas stopped. On 26 June, the junta relaxed the blockade; private cars could cross the border, but only on the Kharkov and Mariupol motorways. However, on 17 August, the junta closed the corridors through Maiorsk and Zaitsevo, which carried half of remaining traffic flow.
22 August 2015
DAN Donetsk News Agency
http://dan-news.info/obschestvo/v-dnr-sluzhby-stali-fiksirovat-uxudshenie-kachestva-ukrainskix-tovarov-iz-za-blokady.html
Voices from Russia 
Clearing of Rubble at the all-Republic Donetsk Local Folklore Museum Will be Complete in Late August
Tags: civil unrest, DNR, Donetsk People's Republic, Novorossiya, political commentary, politics, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Ukrainian Civil War, war and conflict
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Today, DNR Minister of Emergency Situations Aleksei Kostrubitsky told us that staff from the DNR MChS all-Republic Rescue Centre would be working on clearing rubble at the all-Republic Donetsk Local Folklore Museum until late August; the building suffered severe damage in shelling last year. He said, “Our staff is clearing rubble where the slabs fell off the building. We’ve cleared the broken concrete structures and we’ll replace them as soon as we get the funds. It took two days of work at museum by our guys to clear about 200 square metres of flooring. The rest of the work should take about a week. We have 15 workers onsite, along with crane operators and power cutter operators”. During the shelling in August 2014, the museum received considerable damage. The shelling completely destroyed one part of the building, destroyed the naturalistic diorama “Liman Forest”, damaged the archaeological collection, and damaged the porcelain and earthenware collection. Until now, the museum continued to operate in the remaining areas, as well as in the Military History Museum in Donetsk.
21 August 2015
DAN Donetsk News Agency
http://dan-news.info/culture-ru/razbor-zavalov-respublikanskogo-kraevedcheskogo-muzeya-zavershitsya-v-konce-avgusta-mchs-dnr.html