Resumption of water supplies to Crimea "theoretically possible," parliament speaker says / Photo from UNIAN

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov says the resumption of water supplies to Crimea is theoretically possible, but it is necessary to understand what concessions Russia is ready to make.

He made the relevant statement at a briefing on Friday, commenting on the statement by spokesman for the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Oleksiy Arestovych who had supposed concessions could be made on the issue of water supplies to Crimea, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

Read alsoEnvoy Kravchuk doesn't rule out Russia's further invasion of Ukraine over lack of water in CrimeaAccording to Razumkov, he would like to hear such comments "not from the TCG representative, but from those who are much deeper involved in this process."

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"Everything is possible theoretically, but we need to understand the whole palette of issues. Because not only the issue of water supplies to Crimea, but there are also some remarks from him that someone will make some concessions. Which ones? And then sit down and discuss. Because it's just conversation for the sake of conversation. It is unprofessional, and I'm trying not to comment on unprofessional things," the speaker said.

Background

  • In an interview with the Telegraf media outlet, Arestovych suggested "the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, the withdrawal of troops from Donbas, as well as the return of occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Ukraine's terms" could be the condition for the resumption of water supplies to Crimea.
  • "Theoretically, we could agree to this, but whether Russia is ready to withdraw? Why did it spend these years, thousands of lives, sanctions?" he said.
  • On June 8, 2021, press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said that "Ukraine's position remains unchanged. The water from the Dnipro River will flow only into de-occupied Crimea."