The working group estimated the damage from the water blockade of the Crimea at 1 trillion rubles

The total damage to Crimea from the water blockade may exceed 1 trillion rubles, informed deputy head of the working group on assessing the consequences of the blockade, Sergei Trofimov, RIA Novosti.

Yesterday, July 3, the Arbitration Court of Crimea registered a lawsuit to recover 152.2 billion rubles from Ukraine. due to the water blockade of the peninsula. Chairman of the State Council of Crimea Vladimir Konstantinov said that the authorities will continue to work on the formation of claims against Ukraine and the West.

According to Trofimov, affected private organizations and individual entrepreneurs can join this lawsuit, such facts are “not isolated”. Industrial and agricultural enterprises were the first to suffer, he added.

“Thus, the amount of cumulative damage, according to a rough estimate announced at the working group, could be more than 1 trillion rubles,” the official said.

Until 2014, Crimea received up to 85% of fresh water from Ukraine through the North Crimean Canal. After the annexation of the peninsula to Russia, Kyiv blocked the canal and water supply began to be carried out exclusively by internal reserves, which turned out to be insufficient. In 2021, the investigative department of the TFR opened a criminal case under Art. 358 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (ecocide) on the fact of the water blockade of Crimea by Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, the day the Russian special operation in Ukraine began, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the unblocking of the North Crimean Canal.