Crimea costs Russia $1.34 bln in 2016

"The sum of injections from the federal budget on a non-repayable basis in 2016 was RUB 79.7 billion ($1.34 billion), or 120.5% compared to last year's figure," Crimea's de-facto finance minister Irina Kiviko said, TASS reported.

Crimea's consolidated budget in 2016 was executed with a deficit of RUB 19.3 billion, or about $325 million, she said.

"The deficit of the consolidated budget of the Republic of Crimea in 2016 amounted to RUB 19.3 billion," she said, noting that a loan from the federal budget was the source to finance the deficit of Crimea's coffers.

Read alsoChubarov calls on Ukraine authorities to change Crimea's status in ConstitutionIn her words, the de-facto Crimean authorities took the loan from the federal budget in December 2016 to partially cover the deficit amounting to RUB 5 billion, or $84 million.

She also said that Crimea had spent a large portion of the allocated funds in 2016 – RUB 6.6 billion – on the maintenance, repairs and overhauls of roads and highways. It expects to spend another RUB 3.4 billion on road maintenance and repairs in 2017.

UNIAN memo. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March 2014 after its troops had occupied the peninsula. An illegal referendum was held for Crimeans to decide on accession to Russia. De-facto Crimean authorities reported that allegedly 96.77% of the Crimean population had voted for joining Russia. On March 18, 2014, the so-called agreement on the accession of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to Russia was signed in the Kremlin. The West did not recognize the annexation in response to which sanctions against Russia were introduced. Ukraine's parliament voted to designate February 20, 2014, as the official date when the temporary occupation of Crimea began.