Newspaper: Russia has to subsidize 85% of Crimean budget, as in Chechnya

In 2014, the Russian Federation spent RUB 125 billion on the Ukrainian territory it has occupied, while in 2015 it will allocate at least RUB 100 billion.

"The total revenue of the budget of Crimea is RUB 159 billion, RUB 125 billion of which are the transfers from the federal budget. According to these calculations, the level of the subsidization of Crimea is 80%," the expert of the Independent Institute for Social Policy, Natalia Zubarevych, said.

"But Crimea has still value added tax, which must go to the federal budget by law. According to this, the subsidization of Crimea is 85%," she said.

"This is comparable with two territories of Russia - Ingushetia, in which the level of subsidization is 87%, and Chechnya, in which level of subsidization is 82%. The level of subsidization in Sevastopol is 70%, the same level as for Dagestan," Zubarevych said.

At the same time, about 42% of total expenditure in the Crimea is spending on the social protection of the population.

One success of the Russian occupation authorities in the Ukrainian territory of Crimea has been to increase the salaries of state employees, and to increase pensions. However, the ruble devaluation has wiped out much of these gains.

A specially created Ministry of Crimea says it has plans on how to develop the occupied regions, but admits that all their forecasts will depend on the situation with the blockade and sanctions.

As reported earlier, after the Russian Federation annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, the local population was faced with an increase in food prices. In addition, cargo turnover in the Ukrainian territory’s ports decreased, and there were almost no foreign tourists, apart from Russians.

Ukrainians, previously the largest tourist group visiting Crimea, also largely stayed away from the occupied territory.