SIMFEROPOL, March 17. /TASS/. Western sanctions have played a positive role in protecting Crimea from the new coronavirus, the speaker of Crimea’s State Council (unicameral parliament), Vladimir Konstantinov told the media on Tuesday.
"The situation in Crimea is calm. No signs of any alarm. The sanctions have benefited us. Just imagine for a second the kind of situation we would face if planes landed here [Crimea is closed off for international flights due to sanctions — TASS]. Monitoring all arriving planes would be a real problem. As compared to other regions of Europe Crimea looks quite safe," Konstantinov said.
He added that the federal authorities supported Crimea’s idea of closing the border with Ukraine.
Crimea’s head Sergei Aksyonov suggested on Monday sealing Crimea's border with Ukraine in the light of the spreading coronavirus epidemic, due to the vast flow of Ukrainian citizens across the border. The authorities of the city of Sevastopol see eye to eye with their Crimean counterparts.
After the 2014 referendums in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on reunification with Russia Ukraine and other countries introduced sanctions against Russia, Russian businessmen and politicians, who visit Crimea, and individuals and companies doing business on the peninsula. Some countries have maintained a news blackout against the peninsula. Crimea has problems with representation at international events abroad.
An outbreak of the novel coronavirus-related disease in central China at the end of 2019 has spread to more than 160 countries. The World Health Organization has declared a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, the virus has infected more than 180,000 and killed about 7,400 around the world. In Russia, 93 cases of the coronavirus infection have been identified.