Moscow - Kyiv, November 25 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Crimea faces physical isolation for more than 4 years: Moscow does not seem to be planning to create a land corridor there, the construction of the bridge is unlikely to be completed on time, the Kerch crossing is idle, and Kyiv is lowering the iron curtain between Ukraine and the peninsula. This opinion was expressed in Novaya Gazeta by political scientist Andrei Sambros.
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The decisions of the Ukrainian government show that it is easier for Kyiv to gradually lower the iron curtain between the country and Crimea than to deal with the real solution to the problems of Crimeans who have not renounced Ukrainian citizenship. To get rid of Crimea forever as if it were a cancerous tumor—this is the true goal of the resolutions of the President and the National Bank of Ukraine. He writes about this in Novaya Gazeta political scientist Andrey Sambros.
We are talking about the law "On tax and customs control in the free economic zone of Crimea (FEZ)..." signed on September 25, which fixed a rigid customs border on Perekop, and about the resolution of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 699 of November 3, which equated residents of the peninsula with non-residents of the country .
Meanwhile, Crimeans cannot yet do without the mainland, notes Sambros. There is no stable and cheap transport connection between Crimea and Russia; the crossing is constantly delayed due to the weather. Trading enterprises in Crimea, especially those involved in food products, are ready to consider any options for cooperation with Ukrainian producers, just so as not to depend on unpredictable elements and not to work at expensive Russian prices. Chairman of the Crimean Trade Association Sergei Makeev said that now the peninsula is 90% dependent on food supplies from Ukraine, the publication recalls.
This is the main reason why the Kremlin agreed to extend the transition period until the end of 2015. This also means that Moscow does not plan to create a land corridor through Ukraine, Sambros writes.
The future of Crimea is now depicted by the author “in shades of grey”. Against the background of the economic crisis, falling oil prices and the Russian leadership’s love for pompous infrastructure projects of an entertainment nature, doubts arise that the construction of the Kerch Bridge will be completed on time. In 4 years, in the current turbulent world, so much water can leak, and so many structural changes can occur in the Russian economy, that the successful completion of construction would be a miracle. But there is nothing and no one else to wait for. Therefore, for now, Crimeans are forced to exist in a light version of the Iron Curtain, says the political scientist.