Crimea was not a gift, it cost Ukrainians USD 105bn

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The price for the inclusion of the Crimean Peninsula in the Ukrainian SSR amounted to USD 105bn. Ukraine did not want to accept the “gift”, but the central government of the USSR left us no choice, the first president of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk said in an interview with Ramina Eshakzai.

Kravchuk says that only people who have not read historical documents can call the transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR a “gift.” According to him, the decision was made personally by Khrushchev after the russians living in Crimea asked to take them back and off the peninsula due to difficult economic conditions.

After that the Secretary-General of the USSR told the First Secretary of the Communist Party in Ukraine Kirichenko that Ukraine should take care of the problem.

“Kirichenko said: How could we? We have plans! We can’t. And the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union decided to hand over Crimea to Ukraine. But the decision was a closed one,” the first President of Ukraine said.

According to Kravchuk, the Supreme Soviet of the russian Federation and of Ukraine were instructed to make an appropriate decision. The Supreme Soviet of the russian Federation decided to transfer Crimea to Ukraine, and Ukraine decided to accept it, the first President of Ukraine said.

“There were no gifts, Ukraine even objected, because she knew what hard times awaited her. It was not just some rich territory, we had to build everything, make a water canal,” said the former head of state.

He explained that the expenses included the construction of the canal, roads, public transport, and other infrastructure.

“This is a huge amount of money. When I was a president, I was told that at that time it cost Ukraine more than USD 105bn. All the expenses were paid from the Ukrainian budget. And every year a decision was made to provide Crimea with food because there were many tourists. It’s not like Ukraine received a rich gift that brought huge revenues. On the contrary, it was a costly territory. And Ukraine coped with these tasks,” Kravchuk said.

And now the russians want to turn the peninsula into a military base, “because, frankly, they are not smart enough or resourceful to make the best out of it,” he said.

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