Political scientist Suzdaltsev called Crimea’s lawsuit against Ukraine for the water blockade “very useful”

“It will be useful during negotiations on the completion of the SVO”

The Arbitration Court of Crimea satisfied the claim to recover 152 billion rubles from Ukraine for the water blockade. This was announced by the First Deputy Head of the State Council of Crimea Efim Fiks. The meeting was held behind closed doors, and the defendants were the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the State Water Resources Agency, and the North Crimean Canal Authority. MK tells why these claims are needed and how much more, according to preliminary estimates, Kyiv owes to the peninsula.

This claim only covers material damage caused to the region’s budget. Meanwhile, another claim for 3.066 trillion rubles was registered in the Arbitration Court for compensation for moral damage due to the water blockade to the residents of Crimea.

Let us remind you that Crimea has been calculating the amount of damage caused by Ukraine since 2019. First of all, we calculated the damage caused to Crimea during its stay in Ukraine. The amount amounted to at least 2.5 trillion rubles.

In March 2022, the amount of damage due to the water blockade was determined on the peninsula. They also began calculating compensation for the energy and transport blockades. The preliminary volume of damage due to the transport blockade amounted to 1.2 billion rubles, financial – 38 billion rubles. Also, damage for food and energy blockades and terrorist attacks will be added to the total amount.

Earlier, the Chairman of the State Council of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, explained the reasons why claims against Kiev are being counted: “I have no doubt that the West will immediately present Russia with the damage caused as a result of military operations on the territory of the former Ukraine. For our part, we need to be prepared to present the damage that Ukraine has caused to Crimea.”

“Of course, these claims will be useful in negotiations on the completion of the SVO,” comments Andrey Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the Higher School of Economics. – The leadership of Crimea is now doing very useful work. You really need to prepare your calculations. So far we only hear about the multimillion-dollar reparations that the Ukrainian side is offering. But there is practically no talk about how much Ukraine owes Russia. But when the time comes, Russia, of course, will issue these bills.”