On the night of March 18, Russian President Volodymyr Putin arrived in the temporarily occupied Mariupol, where he allegedly talked with local residents and followed the progress of restoration work in the city destroyed by Russia. One of the “residents” (in fact, one cannot establish for sure whether a woman lives in Mariupol now or she lived during the blockade of the city) addresses Putin, saying that she lives in “a piece of paradise”, which is now Mariupol thanks to the Russians.

In fact, it is impossible to find out whether the so-called local residents in Mariupol were not there to meet with Putin, his proxies or representatives of the Russian special services. In addition, in some Russian media, a moment was recorded where, against the background of a conversation about a “piece of paradise” and the “restoration” of Mariupol, shouts are heard: “This is all a show-off!”, which surprised the participants in the dialogue. But even if one skips this, it is clear that Russia is trying to create an illusion of success and development of the temporarily occupied territories, the source of which is Russia.

Russia is trying to substitute the concept in this case, since Mariupol is a city completely destroyed by Russian troops, turning it into hell. Moreover, the decision to destroy civilian infrastructure is well calculated and not accidental - this is a strategy Russian troops constantly resort to in their military campaigns.

Such “recovery” projects often divert attention from Russia's own infrastructural problems. In particular, in many cities you can find buildings in disrepair, in which there is no access to water supply and heating, which is very far from a “piece of paradise”. Instead of working on this, Russia is actually building poor-quality temporary infrastructure for the sake of a good picture, which serves more as a decoration. Russia resorted to such actions even during preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. When it comes to explaining to the locals why their life is definitely not a “piece of paradise” even though there is no constant shelling, the Russian authorities on the ground will blame Ukraine and the “collective West”. If Russia had not waged war against Ukraine and not destroyed its infrastructure, the money spent on the “restoration” of the temporarily occupied territories could have been spent on improving the living standards of the inhabitants of the Russian hinterland.

That is, by calling Mariupol a piece of paradise, Russian propaganda is substituting the concept. After all, it was Russia that captured a quite successful Ukrainian city and turned it into a hell in which thousands of people died. And if it had not been for Russia, Mariupol would not have had to be reconstructed.