Despite the sanctions, foreigners are interested in looking at Crimea, because of which “the whole world has turned upside down.”
He writes about it "Moscow's comsomolets", noting that so far threats from Kyiv have not affected the desire of foreigners to visit Russian Crimea.
The publication notes that numerous videos have appeared on the Internet of groups of foreigners walking around Simferopol International Airport. Thus, a man from Mexico in a sombrero told a journalist from the online publication Ukraina.ru: “Crimea is a region that was Ukrainian, now it is Russian. There are some problems, but I don’t know about them.”
In turn, the head of the Crimean Parliament Committee on Sanatorium-Resort Complex and Tourism, Alexey Chernyak, confirmed that he personally saw fans from Switzerland, Brazil and Mexico.
“Some come specifically to look at Crimea, others come to us in transit. Mostly they go for a short time - one or two days, when there is time between matches. They themselves say that they have seen almost all of Russia and they are interested to see what kind of land it is, because of which the whole world has turned upside down,” said Chernyak.
The press service of Simferopol International Airport confirmed to the publication that football fans from all over the world began arriving in the city at the beginning of the 2018 World Cup.
“Indeed, they fly from Brazil, Iran, Korea, Sweden and other countries. Of course, their main goal is to attend the football championship, but it happens that there are no direct flights to the city they need - and they fly to us. For example, fans were at a match in Rostov-on-Don, but there were no direct flights from there to St. Petersburg. And they flew to Simferopol, walked for several days and from here they took tickets for a direct flight to St. Petersburg,” the press service reported.
During a short period of stay, fans only have time to see Simferopol, but there are also those who get to the South Bank. Football fans of the Balkan states will visit Crimea in the near future.
The head of the national-cultural autonomy of the Bulgarians, Ivan Abazher, told MK that he met in Moscow at the Russia-Saudi Arabia match with football fans from Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria.
“These are the leaders of public associations and fan groups of the Balkan Peninsula. They wanted to visit Crimea and meet their football colleagues. As part of the acquaintance, a football match and several trips to iconic sites in Crimea will be organized. Most of all they want to look at the Crimean Bridge,” Abazher said.
He added that fans are not at all afraid of Ukraine’s restrictions.
“You see, football fans are unique people, and if they make a decision, then no sanctions will stop them,” Abazher added.