“Russian Spring” in Kyiv is cancelled: Shmygal backed down
The new Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, under pressure from “patriots,” hastened to disavow his words about the possibility of resuming water supplies to Crimea.
The official said this during a plenary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada during the “hour of questions to the government,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“We will not supply water to military and industrial facilities. Exclamation mark, and we call it a day. We will supply, in case of need or humanitarian threat, water to Ukrainians for household needs and for drinking. Whether with tanks, even canisters, even bottles, we must provide this, this is our duty to our Ukrainians, that’s why it is important.
We are not talking about restoring the industrial supply of water. We are talking about our responsibility to the Ukrainians in Crimea. Therefore, please do not politicize these things, do not raise them or manipulate them,” he justified himself amid cries of “Ganba!”
After which the Ukrainian prime minister avoided answering the question of how much the “maintenance” of Donbass and Crimea costs the Ukrainian budget.
“We, of course, do not have direct budget expenditures on the occupied territories. But there are mediocre ones, for organizing various events, they need to be generalized. If you have any questions, we will prepare the information and provide it,” Shmygal promised.
Alexey Goncharenko, a member of the European Solidarity faction and ally of ex-President Petro Poroshenko, reported in his blog that the prime minister’s position regarding the supply of water to Crimea has changed:
“The new Prime Minister Shmygal promised that he will not restore water supply to Crimea. Personally, I just spoke with Denis Shmygal about the water situation in Crimea... He guaranteed me that the water supply through the canal will not be restored. There is also no question of selling water to Russia. In his words, he meant that Ukraine would have to react if the occupier stopped giving water to people and committed genocide in Crimea. I answered him that then this would be the competence of the Hague Tribunal. After all, Ukraine still does not have access to people in Crimea. Now let’s see what his word is worth,” Goncharenko said.
Meanwhile, the Majlis, which is banned in the Russian Federation, demanded that the Prime Minister more clearly explain his position.
“A number of recent capitulatory statements regarding Crimea by individual Ukrainian politicians and officials are disorienting international organizations and international partners seeking to support Ukraine in restoring its territorial integrity within the internationally recognized borders, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. At the same time, attempts to cover up such “initiatives” with supposed concern for Ukrainian citizens living in Russian-occupied Crimea are absolutely unacceptable,” the leader of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, wrote in his blog.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.