Former Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin believes that restoring water to the occupied Crimea will be “the final ending of the struggle for Crimea, as it will not be a problem for Russia anymore.” He expressed such an opinion via his Facebook page.
“I want everyone to understand what will happen after the restoration of water supply to Crimea. Formal non-recognition of the occupation will remain, but sanctions will be lifted gradually. The status of Crimea will be equated with the status of the Baltic states in the USSR: we will not recognize the occupation, but everything else will be welcomed. This is the final end of the struggle for Crimea, as it will not be a problem for Russia anymore. For Kremlin, Crimea is a military base, and people are an “addition” to this very base”,- Klimkin underlined.
He added that the “test balls” regarding the supply of water to the Crimea are the desire to “kill two birds with one stone”: to please Russia for further normalization of relations and to use, unfortunately, the attitude of many Ukrainians towards restoring Crimea’s water supply, who don’t understand that the beginning of water supply is not the beginning of de-occupation, but its obvious end.
“And finally: the occupier bears responsibility for the occupied territory – it is so clearly spelled out in international law. Our government is new, and international law is the same”,- Klimkin added.