12 Apr 2019 18:33

Calculation of damage done to Crimean economy in 'Ukrainian' period to take at least 6 months - deputy parliament speaker

SIMFEROPOL. April 12 (Interfax) - It will take the special working group in the State Council of Crimea at least half a year to calculate the damage inflicted on the republic's economy during the period when it was run by Ukraine.

"I think half a year is a very optimistic period. Various figures have been put forward. Let's approach this issue cautiously," Yefim Fiks, first deputy speaker of the Crimean State Council, said during the first meeting of the working group he leads on Friday.

Fiks said it had been proposed that the damage done to Crimea in the period between late 1991 and March 2014 should be calculated in U.S. dollars.

The outcome of the work carried out by the group will be an analytical document containing conclusions on all industries. Officials, experts, and scientists will help deputies make it.

The idea to calculate the damage was first stated by Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin on March 15 in Simferopol, where he was attending the celebrations of the five-year anniversary of the reunion of Crimea and Russia. Special working groups were formed in the Russian State Duma and the Crimean State Council to study this issue.

At the first meeting of the working group in the State Duma on April 3, Crimean deputy Andrei Kozenko tentatively estimated the damage at over 1.5 trillion rubles.