In the fifth year of occupation, the illegal authorities in the Kherson region claim that a “solid foundation for the work of local government” has finally appeared there.
This was reported by the deputy of the occupation regional Duma, Tamerlan Tsalikov.
“Today in Kherson Oblast there already exists a strong legislative base upon which the entire system of local self-government is built. These are working tools that help put things in order locally,” he noted.
Tsalikov ties the “basis” of the work of the illegal local authorities to the adoption in 2025 of the law “On the administrative-territorial structure of Kherson Oblast,” which allegedly clearly defines how the so‑called municipalities are formed and where their boundaries run.
The pseudo-deputy claims that, due to the adoption of this and a number of other laws, there is allegedly already a “clear delineation of powers and a system in place that is easier to manage locally.”
Recall that the occupation authorities of the Kherson region still could not establish the operation of local self-government bodies. The reason, allegedly, was that all the heads of the so‑called municipalities are local residents of the region, and they “still do not all know the legislation, requirements and opportunities that exist for local self-government bodies.”
In the summer the propagandists themselves reported that in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions tension is rising due to dissatisfaction with the local occupation authorities. According to Russian surveys, the level of trust in local administrations in the occupied territories did not exceed 20%.
However, in February 2026 it became known that the illegal regional Duma of Kherson region approved almost 1 billion rubles for the salaries of “officials”.