Large Russian companies continue to ignore Crimea – sociologist

Sanctions pressure in the past year has spread to the entire Russian Federation, but, nevertheless, domestic companies continue to bypass Crimea and do not even make deliveries from their online stores.

Crimea and Sevastopol are still in a disadvantageous position in terms of price levels and economic development, the head of the Crimean branch of the Civil Society Development Fund, sociologist Natalya Kiseleva, noted at a press conference in Simferopol, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“There are a number of reasons here, both subjective and objective. Our historical past can be considered objective – the fact that we had a different level when joining the Russian Federation than the rest of Russia. It is clear that the federal center has made enormous efforts to level and integrate Crimea and Sevastopol into the economic space. Politically we integrated very quickly because we did not leave it. And there were more problems with the economy,” she noted.

– The second is the geographical factor, our peninsular position. Crimea is, in fact, an island, and this geographical factor was overcome with the construction of the Crimean Bridge. But this year we had a terrorist attack, and fortunately, this connecting thread could not be completely destroyed. But, nevertheless, some damage was caused; we experienced some changes in the flow of incoming goods. Changes have occurred in the price characteristics, because inspections of goods require more costs than in other regions - these are objective factors that, naturally, should be combated and efforts made in economic policy.”

The policy of Russian manufacturers, ignoring the opportunity to supply their goods to Crimea, is already somewhat contrary to the policy of sovereignty of the Russian Federation. And if Crimea had implemented plans back in 2015-16 to create food hubs on the peninsula, so as not to depend on intermediate supplies, the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge would not have had such a serious impact, the sociologist believes.

“I can say that if we look at the consumer price index for food products, last year in the Southern Federal District Sevastopol took 1st place, and now Crimea. This means that Crimea was not completed somewhere, which means that in Sevastopol it was possible to change the situation for the better, but we did not succeed, or at least we did not succeed to the extent that these efforts needed to be made,” Kiseleva pointed out.

– If we talk about forecasts for next year, then I believe that we do not have enough logistics centers so that we do not depend on temporary supplies. We must create conditions for storing goods, but they have not yet been created. There are these projects, but they are always postponed or not implemented. Thus, we need to pay attention, learn lessons from what is, what we are faced with.

And, unfortunately, no large companies came to us. Despite the fact that we are all now under sanctions, some companies still ignore Crimea. I can tell you my own example. They call me from Rostelecom, offering their services and promotions. The girl speaks quickly and attracts consumers. And at the end he asks the question: what city do you live in? I just called it Crimea. “Oh, sorry. We have nothing for you." Single case. But these are subjective factors that influence the socio-economic situation in Crimea.”