SIMFEROPOL, March 24. /TASS/. The amount of lawsuits that the Crimean authorities plan to lodge against Ukraine for the peninsula’s water blockade could rise to ten trillion rubles (about $131.41 billion), Crimean State Council’s First Deputy Speaker Yefim Fiks said this on Wednesday.
"Now we have documents for 1.5 trillion (about $19.7 billion). It is direct damage. But the amount might increase. I suppose that the amount could amount up to ten trillion rubles," Fiks said.
According to the Crimean parliament’s deputy speaker, first documents are expected to be drawn up by late April to lodge claims against Ukraine for the damage caused to the peninsula as a result of the water blockade.
Speaker of Crimea’s State Council Vladimir Konstantinov said that the lawsuit against Ukraine would have been filed by mid-2021. According to Konstantinov, lawsuits over the transport and energy blockade are next in line.
In early March, Konstantinov announced that Crimea’s authorities were preparing to sue Ukraine for the damage caused to the peninsula by water blockade. He instructed relevant committees to prepare information about the damage inflicted on Crimea’s environment, agriculture and companies as well as on its residents’ health after the North Crimean Canal had been shut down.
Crimea faced problems with water supplies and land irrigation in 2014 when Ukraine cut off the water running from the Kherson Region via the North Crimean Canal, which met up to 90% of the peninsula’s needs. Since then, the people and enterprises of Crimea have been receiving water from local sources. As a result of the drought and the shallowing of water reservoirs, drinking water is supplied to Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, and its suburbs in mornings and evenings, according to schedules. Similar schedules were also introduced in Yalta and Alushta, while Sevastopol declared a high alert.
After a government coup in Ukraine in February 2014 the authorities of Crimea and Sevastopol made a decision to hold a referendum on reunification with Russia. In the voting held on March 16 more than 80% of those eligible to cast their ballots took part. The unification with Russia was supported by 96.7% and 95.6% in Crimea and Sevastopol respectively. On March 18, the Russian president signed a treaty on the accession of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. On March 21, the treaty was ratified by the Federal Assembly. In defiance of the indisputable results of the referendum Kiev refused to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.