MOSCOW, May 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Transport Ministry intends to find a private investor to develop Simferopol airport in Crimea, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said on Tuesday.

“We’ll first determine what responsibility the state will assume as part of the federal target program for the development of Crimea and its infrastructure with regard to the aerodrome logistics,” Sokolov said.

“After that, when the scope of the state’s responsibility becomes clear and is fixed in a program document, we can speak about a model of extra-budgetary investment. As well as about the format of attracting this investment either through a tender, an auction or a concession agreement is already a third-priority task,” the transport minister said.

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new self-proclaimed Ukrainian authorities, who had come to power amid riots after a coup in Ukraine in February.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11. They held a referendum on March 16, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deals on March 18.