Star Metro - Rebuilding in devastated Mariupol under Russia's thumb

"Take a dip in the Sea of Azov!" said 52-year-old local Ivan, who like other beachgoers lapped up the good weather and mild waters of a coastline that is now entirely Russian-held.

"Mariupol was, is and will be Russian," said the man, whose name has been changed.

The slogan is the same one repeatedly put forward by Moscow, which took the city in May 2022 after a long siege.

Exiled Ukrainian city officials say 22,000 civilians died in the Russian offensive and the UN estimates 90 percent of Mariupol's housing was damaged or destroyed.

Some 300,000 of the predominantly Russian-speaking city's pre-conflict population of 540,000 has fled, the exiled authorities estimate.

President Vladimir Putin quickly hailed what he called the liberation of Mariupol, while Kyiv and the majority of the international community denounce it as an occupation.

In September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk where Mariupol is located -- even though it does not fully control the areas.

Across Ukraine, the resistence put up by its forces in the city during the early weeks of Russia's military offensive has become a symbol of resilience.

The city defenders, particularly the soldiers and civilians who held out during the last days of the siege of the Azovstal steelworks, are hailed as heroes.

- 'I ordered furniture' -

Russia in 2022 promised to rebuild the city within three years, hoping to showcase Mariupol as a symbol of its ability to bring prosperity to parts of Ukraine it controls.

But Denis Kochubey, the city's exiled deputy mayor, said Moscow's reconstruction is just "a large-scale propaganda project."

The building work is "aimed at erasing the memory" of Russia's actions in Mariupol by "showing that they have brought development".

In the city, AFP reporters saw cement mixers operating at various construction sites.

Russian military vehicles also went back and forth from the front line, about two hours' drive away.

At the entrance to Mariupol, behind the sprawling hulk of Azovstal, stand some new apartment blocks. Galina Giller, a pensioner, was given a one-bedroom flat for free by the Moscow-installed authorities in May 2024.

"They wrote to me saying I would get an apartment without any preconditions. They gave us the keys, we came to see it and I ordered furniture," the 67-year-old widow said.

Giller fled the fighting in 2022 initially to nearby Donetsk, then to Crimea -- another Ukrainian region that was annexed by Russia in 2014.

"I am terribly sad for the ordinary people," she said.

Like all the inhabitants who agreed to speak to AFP, Giller, who said she has Cossack and Greek roots, is a native Russian speaker.

She still has Ukrainian citizenship but recently also received a Russian passport.

Moscow has handed out 3.5 million Russian passports to people living in areas it controls in Ukraine -- a policy that Kyiv has denounced as an "illegal" violation of its sovereignty.

In Ukrainian territory controlled by Russia, Russian passports facilitate access to social benefits and protect residents from potential expropriation.

Putin in March issued a decree that requires Ukrainians living in Moscow-controlled areas to "regularise their legal status" -- meaning to become a Russian citizen or register as a foreign resident.

- Wagner t-shirt -

The city now uses the Russian ruble and has Russian-style phone prefixes and car number plates.

In a park where Russian flags fluttered in the wind, posters hail Russian soldiers who died during the offensive as "heroes of our time" -- a reference to a literary classic by Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov.

"I don't see any occupation here. I can travel freely on Russian territory," said Renald, 33, who wore a t-shirt with the log of Wagner, a former mercenary group that fought on the Russian side against Ukraine.

Like most of the residents willing to speak to a foreign media outlet, Renald did not want to give his surname.

Those who oppose Russian control of the city prefer to stay silent -- or have long left Mariupol.

The risk of being imprisoned is high with Russia cracking down on dissent. Authorities regularly arrest and give long prison sentences to people accused of "collaborating" with Kyiv.

And people accused of "discrediting" the Russian army get jailed.

One ex-resident, Tetiana, who spoke to AFP from outside Ukraine, said she feared "something bad" would happen if she went back, after criticising Moscow over the destruction of the city.

- 'Memory' -

In central Mariupol, many buildings have been restored. Cafes and supermarkets are open and the bars draw clients by blasting out techno beats.

On Lenin Avenue, a "Mak Fly" restaurant serves burgers and fries.

Authorities are also rebuilding the bombed-out theatre -- which Ukraine says was targeted despite being used as a shelter for civilians and with the word "children" scrawled on the courtyard in giant Russian letters.

According to Amnesty International, the March 2022 strike killed "at least a dozen people and likely many more".

The Russian-appointed city authorities ignored numerous AFP requests to comment on the reconstruction.

One of the most visible signs of Russian control was the inauguration this year of the Zhdanov Museum by decree from Putin.

Set up on the site of a museum about local folklore, the institution is dedicated to henchman Andrei Zhdanov (1896-1948), a Mariupol native responsible for setting Soviet cultural policy and one of the architects of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's repression.

Under the Soviet Union, Mariupol was known as Zhdanov between 1948 and 1989.

Museum director Pavel Ignatev rejected accusations against his hero, saying that "historians... never found a document with the signature of Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov that authorised any kind of repression, execution or expulsion".

- 'Constant shooting' -

Outside the city centre, there are quiet roads with houses gutted by the fighting.

Some doors still have bullet holes and signs in Russian saying "Children", "Residents" or "Bodies".

Mariupol is still far from becoming the seaside resort Moscow wants.

AFP reporters noted frequent power and water cuts in the city.

Sergei, 52, lives with his dogs in a rundown house -- partly destroyed in the siege -- where weeds sprouted up in the garden.

Sergei, who builds advertising billboards, said he had been to see local authorities three times to ask for compensation "but they themselves had no idea".

"There were a lot of people there in the same situation as me who went to bother them with all sorts of questions," he said with a sigh. He abandoned his search.

In independent and international media, there have been multiple allegations of corruption over the vast sums being poured into Mariupol's reconstruction.

- Housing -

City authorities in exile told AFP that the Russian-installed municipality is making lists of "ownerless" homes and apartments of residents who fled.

The lists are sent to courts which give the property to people who stayed and whose housing was destroyed during the 2022 siege.

Luisa Nalivay, director of the Mariupol branch of the real estate agent Ayax, boasted that her firm "has been present in Mariupol since the first day after the end of the fighting".

She said the price per square metre of new housing has jumped from 85,000 rubles (around $1,050) in 2022 to 200,000 rubles ($2,500) now.

Nalivay said the rise was due to the low interest rate of just two percent on mortgages offered by Moscow to Russians who move to Mariupol.

The rate can rise to more than 20 percent in Russia.

Nalivay said "many people" from Russian regions wanted to move to Mariupol.

"There are people who come for work, fall in love with the city and its mild climate and decide to move here with their families," she said.

She said the air quality has been particularly good since the "metal works are currently stopped".

- Surveillance -

That is what attracted Elena, who left Yekaterinburg in the Urals to buy a house in Mariupol last year.

"It's an investment," said the tattooed beauty parlour worker, who wore XXL sunglasses.

"Anywhere in the world which is by the sea, where people relax on the coast, there is going to be growth."

But, far from the resort image that Moscow wants to project, surveillance and fear are omnipresent.

A day after being interviewed, one resident who came across AFP reporters said an approach was made.

"After I spoke to you, a big guy warned me against speaking to foreigners. I told him he could go and talk to the police if he wanted," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"I did not say anything incriminating," the person added, seeking reassurance.

L.Pelletier--SMC