Ukraine: Russia spends over one billion per year to support DPR and LPR
The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic cost Moscow over a billion dollars a year in support, stated the Minister for Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, Vadym Chernysh.
"It’s like some troupe that travels around and just demonstrates that ‘we will not leave you alone.’ A humanitarian train from Russia comes to the DPR and LPR every month. However, according to our estimates, that isn’t all of it because we do not see the part that concerns weapons. By the way, [the Russians] dismissively call them not ‘Republics’ but ‘territory one’ and ‘territory two,’ accordingly. There are “T1” and “T2” in all documentation. Here is the show of faith in the better future of the so-called Republics,” Chernysh said on Channel Pryamiy.
He also talked about how much money Russia spends per year for the so-called LPR and DPR. "About 1.3 billion dollars per year according to preliminary estimates are spent on these territories for sure,” the Minister stressed.
The special representative of the US State Department in Ukraine, Kurt Volker has stated that the DPR and LPR are wholly sustained by Russia. Volker has visited the Donbas recently, and stated that he was ready to visit Donetsk and Luhansk after their liberation from militants.