The Crimean Republic has completed integration with Russia’s economy, infrastructure and judiciary, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced while speaking to members of the Sevastopol city government.
“We faced an unprecedented task, both in its difficulty and in its scale – we had to integrate the peninsula in the Russian legal, infrastructure and economic fields. Today we can say that the hardest stage is over and we have started the more stable and planned work regime,” RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying on Monday.
The Russian PM also added that the process of Crimea’s integration had required dozens of out-of-the box solutions in rebuilding the electricity grid, the water supply system as well as fuel supply and transportation networks.
“The communal facilities and roads on the peninsula have not been repaired since the Soviet times, they completely exhausted their resource. Our main goal was to set better standards for life and rest on the peninsula,” Medvedev said.
Earlier in the day the head of the Russian cabinet participated in the launch ceremony of the brand-new Russian passenger hydrofoil Kometa-120M in Sevastopol. The new vessel will start regular voyages between Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Yalta as soon as August 1.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a protest note saying the Prime Minister’s visit to Crimea was not coordinated with Ukrainian authorities.
Subscribe to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.