Russia to help Crimea with $3 billion annually

AP photo

The Russian government plans to provide economic assistance to the Crimea in the case of its accession to the Russian Federation in the amount of $3 billion per year.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak will be in charge to supervise the costs, a senior official in the government of the Russian Federation said. Kozak has experience in resolving socio-economic issues in the Caucasus, when he served as a presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District.

To date, the treasury of the Crimea has a surplus: the autonomy is expected to receive 5.37 billion hryvnas of revenues; the spending is forecast at 5.25 billion hryvna. However, more than a half of revenues was expected to be received in the form of subsidies from Kiev - about 3 billion hryvna. Now it will be up to Russia to fill in the financial gap.