NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday new opportunities will open for honest entrepreneurs in Crimea, a former Ukrainian region that recently joined Russia.

“The processes underway should open new opportunities for honest, bona fide people who will do their business in Crimea and Sevastopol,” Putin said at a meeting of the supervisory board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives [ASI, a government-founded nonprofit organization].

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, held a referendum on March 16, in which most of their residents decided for the area to secede from Ukraine and reunify with Russia. The admission deals with Moscow were signed on March 18.

The developments followed a coup in Ukraine in February 2014 that occurred after months of anti-government protests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin finds also it necessary to provide Crimean business people with legal consultations over the peninsula’s reunification with Russia.

“It is needed to give aid to our colleagues, provide legal consultations for them,” the president said at a meeting of the supervisory board of the Agency of Strategic Initiatives (ASI, a government-founded non-profit organisation).

“Small and medium businesses in Crimea (the recently established Russian republic) and the Russian federal city of Sevastopol (long-standing home base for Russian Black Sea naval fleet on the Crimean peninsula) to deal on their own with all details of Russian legislation,” Putin noted, demanding consequently to familiarize local business with registration procedures of property and enterprises, rules of financial accounting, tax and customs administration.

“This is not only a matter for our ministries and agencies, as business professional associations can bring major benefit in this issue,” Putin said.