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According to the order of the Russian government, the money will go to the construction of a water intake on the Belbek river, infrastructure for transferring water from the Kadykovsky quarry, as well as the overhaul of water pipes in occupied Crimea.
The occupied Crimea and Sevastopol will receive 4.95 billion rubles (almost $ 56 million) for the creation of new water supply facilities. This follows from the decree signed by the Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
According to the government press service, the funds will be used to build a water intake on the Belbek river with treatment and engineering facilities, as well as the infrastructure for the transfer of water from the Kadykovsky quarry. The construction work will be carried out by the Russian Defense Ministry. Once the objects are put into operation, they will be transferred to the property of Sevastopol.
More than 870 million rubles (about $ 10 million) will be allocated for the overhaul of water pipes, the replacement of obsolete equipment and the development of additional wells.
The funds will come from the government reserve fund.
In annexed Crimea there is a serious water shortage problem. Before the Russian occupation, Ukraine provided 85% of the peninsula’s freshwater needs through the Northern Crimean Canal. After the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the spring of 2014, Kiev stopped supplying the peninsula with water. According to media reports, no alternative to the Dnieper water supply has yet been found in Crimea, except large-scale pumping of groundwater.
In June 2019, the former permanent representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Boris Babin, said that the invaders had offered bribes to restore the water supply to the annexed peninsula.
Sergei Shevchenko, director of the Crimean North Canal, said it was technically impossible to supply water from mainland Ukraine to Crimea.
The Chairman of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Servant of the People’s People’s Deputy Yuri Aristov, told reporters on the Scheme (Radio Svoboda) program, broadcast on January 30, 2020, that the Ukrainian authorities were considering the idea of selling water to Crimea. The representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, Anton Korinevich, said in response that Ukraine did not intend to resume supplying water to Crimea until the peninsula was vacated.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said that the supply of fresh water from mainland Ukraine to annexed Crimea is only possible in the event of a humanitarian disaster on the peninsula.
In September 2020, the occupants reported that due to water shortages in occupied Simferopol, part of the city will receive water for three hours in the morning and in the evening.
On October 7, Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development announced that it had developed “a preliminary plan to ensure a reliable water supply to Crimea and Sevastopol.”
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