Ukrainian official: State losses caused by the annexation of Crimea amount to $38 billion
The General Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine estimated the damage caused by the annexation of the Crimea to be 1 trillion hryvnia ($38 billion), as stated by the head of the agency, Anatolii Matios, at a briefing on March 21st, reported Krym.Realii.
"According to the preliminary conclusions of the experts, the damage to the Ukrainian state caused by the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia amounts to more than 1 trillion hryvnia. This number takes onto account only the value of state-owned real estate, infrastructure, and enterprises, and excludes territorial losses and the private property on the peninsula," Matios said.
According to him, some of the documents concerning the case were sent to the international institutions. Matios also reported that more than a hundred criminal proceedings are in progress concerning the annexation of the peninsula.
The internationally recognized Ukrainian territory of Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in March of 2014 in the wake of the Ukrainian revolution. The Kremlin has faced international condemnation for its annexation of the Peninsula, leading many western countries to impose economic sanctions against Russia. In the United Nations, only Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Syria recognize Crimea as a legitimate federal subject of Russia.