SIMFEROPOL, November 13. /TASS/. Crimea’s Head Sergey Aksyonov has asked Russian leaders to extend the transition period in the republic till 2016 over problems with integration into the rest of Russia, Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Yevgenia Bavykina said on Thursday.

“Crimea’s head has asked for that over problems of integration into Russia’s financial, legal, judicial and banking spheres,” she said. “Regrettably, despite the fact that we have managed to find solutions to many problems or to have Russian laws amended correspondingly, more and more problems emerge as January 1, 2015 is getting closer. These problems cannot be solved overnight.”

Aksyonov raised the issue of extending the transition period in Crimea back on October 28. He said that Crimea’s small and medium businesses needed more time to be re-registered in accordance with Russian laws.

After Crimea and the city of Sevastopol reunified with Russia and became Russia’s constituent regions in March 2014, they were given a transition period from March 18, 2014 to January 1, 2015.

Crimea's accession to Russia

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 authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

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 March 18.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.

Work to integrate the Crimean Peninsula into Russia’s economic, financial, credit, legal, state power, military conscription and infrastructure systems is actively underway now that Crimea has accessed to the Russian Federation.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.