Russia spends about $ 5 billion a year on Crimea and Donbas

Russia spends about $ 5 billion a year on Crimea and Donbas, the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov announced.

About $1.3 billion of those funds go to state officers’ salaries and other civil cases.

Crimea and Donbas are financed in different ways, in particular, through banks that are not located in Russia, e.g. through other occupied territories.

Since 2014, Russia has been a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and supported the LDNR materially and technically. In March 2014, the Russian Federation occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

In 2014 and 2015, the Russian army committed a direct military invasion of Donbas to provide military assistance to militants. The Kremlin denies Russia’s engagement in the war in Donbas, calling it a “civil conflict.”

Russia continues to fuel the war in the Donbas with money and weapons, creating a full-fledged army in the occupied areas, which consists of Russian military staff, Russian citizens and local separatist elements.

Natalia Tolub