Kyiv, 24 June 2014 – “We have analyzed the economic and social changes that have taken place in Crimea over the last 100 days. The positive changes include a two-fold increase in pensions, a four to five-fold increase in the salaries of military personnel and police officers and a revision of public sector salaries. At the same time we observe deterioration of financial state of small and medium businesses and individual entrepreneurs, which resulted in the reduction of salaries and headcount. This has led to increasing unemployment, which in Sevastopol, for example, reach up to 30 percent,” said Anatoliy Zasoba, coordinator of the Crimean Diaspora initiative group at his press briefing at the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
“Furthermore, according to various sources, food and utility costs have increased 2 to 3 times while the average monthly salary is now RUR 5 – 10K. This means that the overall economic well-being of Crimean citizens has deteriorated,” he added. The supply of drinking water to the peninsula also remains an unresolved issue.
As for the citizens who were forced to relocate to mainland Ukraine, the main issue here remains providing people with temporary and permanent accommodation. According to Mr. Zasoba, “The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted in the first reading and as a whole the bill no. 4998-1 ‘On the legal status of persons forced to leave their places of residence due to the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol and due to circumstances related to the conduct of an anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine’, which sets out the rights of displaced persons, including the right for accommodation.” At present the bill has been sent to the President of Ukraine for signature.
