Novorossiya: New Russian territories require billions of spending to return trillions of profit

The accession of new territories to Russia is justifiable from the economic point of view and will not have a negative impact on the Russian budget, the Kremlin said.

As Russia readies to grow even larger, experts try to calculate how much it will cost the Russian budget to rebuild cities and restore peaceful life in the new territories. Some others try to find out how much profit the new territories will bring.

The Washington Post announced the approximate cost of mineral deposits in the new regions — about 12.4 trillion dollars.

The Vedomosti newspaper wrote that the economic potential of the territories of the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions would amount to $130 billion in 2021 prices. In other words, 20% of the Ukrainian economy will add 2.9% to the Russian economy.

Peaceful life should guarantee the well-being of the new territories

In fact, Russia will receive more than 5,000 industrial, agricultural, processing, energy and other enterprises.

According to AMIK, all of them have a serious economic potential, and their restoration is an excellent start for the future for Russia. Peaceful life should guarantee the well-being of those regions — this is the goal, for which everything started.

The four territories measure a total of 109,000 square kilometers. The Donetsk region alone has a population of 4.1 million. Until 2014, it was the most highly developed industrial region of Ukraine, which provided 20% of the country's industrial production (coal, non-ferrous metals, coke-chemical).

The following thermal power plants are working normally:

• Uglegorskaya TPP,
• Starobeshevskaya TPP,
• Slavyanskaya TPP,
• Kurakhovskaya TPP
• Zuevskaya TPP.

Actually, there is no need to prove anything. Any textbook of economic geography says that the Donbas is the largest coal deposit in Europe. The area of ​​its agricultural land is 617.8 thousand hectares.

The Luhansk People's Republic has a 1.4 million-strong population. There are powerful metallurgical enterprises, a chemical and pharmaceutical plant, a number of important transit mains in the region.

In Zaporozhye (often spelled the Ukrainian way as Zaporizhzhia), there are such companies as:

• Zaporizhstal steel works,
• Dneprospetsstal steel works,
• Ukrainian graphite,
• Zaporozhye aluminum plant,
• Titanium-Magnesium Plant,
• Motor Sich,
• Zaporozhye Automobile Plant (ZAZ).

The DneproGES (the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant), Europe's largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the Zaporizhzhia Thermal Power Plant, as well as the seaport on the Sea of ​​Azov (the city of Berdyansk), are located in the Zaporozhye region too.

The Kherson region is home to as many as one million people and about 200 industrial enterprises:

• engineering,
• food industry,
• processing industry,
• chemical industry,
• pulp and paper industry,
• light industry,
• electric power industry.

Shipbuilding is traditionally considered a priority. Mineral resources and agricultural land hold promise for boosting the economy in the coming years.

The region has the potential to grow at least 2 million tons of food grain annually, which is an extremely important indicator in our time.

The LPR and the DPR broke away from Ukraine a long time ago and have been fighting for their independence for the last eight years. Kherson and Zaporozhye regions started changing their status this year only.

In addition, the Sea of ​​Azov will become Russia's inland sea after the accession of the four territories to Russia. This will give Russia such opportunities and advantages as:

• ports,
• agriculture,
• tourism,
• foreign trade,
• logistics in the south of the country,
• sanatoriums and recreation centers,
• shutting Ukraine off from the sea

Without huge expenses, life in the new territories will never get better.

In fact, the issue of integration into the Russian economy and the Russian legal field is the crucial one for these territories today.

In the Kherson region, one will have to pay first priority attention to the functioning of the Crimean Canal and the establishment of the agricultural sector.

Zaporozhye may become the most problematic region, but no one can predict how things are going to develop there. The upcoming winter season is the most important issue to deal with as people need to live and work somewhere.

As for Russia's future expenses, it may go about 20-25 billion dollars (which is almost ten percent of Russia-controlled reserves). Yet, everyone understands that life in the new territories will never get better without these expenses.