Kyiv: Russian Black Sea ports and Crimea suffer losses due to sanctions
The Black Sea ports of annexed Crimea and neighboring Russia suffered a loss of more than 760 million rubles (around $11.8 million) in 2018 due to sanctions, reports the Ukrainian Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons.
“By comparison with other years, specifically 2015, 2016 and 2017, the annual revenue of the Black Sea Ports Administration was between 32 and 152 million rubles. In 2018, the Black Sea Ports Administration’s earnings were only 359.6 million rubles, but its expenses were 1.1 billion rubles. This means that, for the first time in the period between 2015 and 2018, the company became profitable, but its losses in 2018 were more than 760 million rubles,” the report states.
The Ukrainian ministry believes that the port management company’s loss is the result of the complex sanction policy implemented by the EU, the US and Ukraine.
The ports in Crimea (Yevpatoriya, Kerch, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Yalta) have been legally closed by order of the Ukrainian government since 2014.
The Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs has repeatedly warned that it is a violation of international law for any ships flying foreign flags to enter the closed ports and terminals in Crimea, and that such actions “undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine”.