YALTA, October 28. /TASS/. Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said on Tuesday that Russia’s new republic might fail to meet the New Year's Day deadline for aligning its legislation with that of Russia.

“We are trying to do all to speed up the process. If needed, we will put forward an initiative to the country’s leadership on extension of the transitional period for one year,” the prime minister said.

Aksyonov said he was waiting for the republic’s ministries and agencies to deliver before November 1 their proposals on possible extension of the transitional period. “Then I will submit them to the Russian government, appeal to the president of Russia,” he added, not ruling out that Crimean authorities themselves were partially to blame for being behind.

“We are rather critical about ourselves, and we surely don’t assess our job as excellent,” he said.

The transitional period for Crimea and the Russian federal city of Sevastopol in Crimea was introduced for the period between March 18, 2014 and January 1, 2015, following Crimea’s accession to Russia.