You're reading: Russian ministry seeking investors for projects in Crimea

The Russian Chamber of Commerce (RCC) has been asked to find investors prepared to invest more than $5 billion in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula in the Black Sea, national daily Kommersant reported on Feb. 27.

The Economic Development Ministry is asking Russian businessmen to
consider participating in “promising investment projects being
implemented and planned for implementation in the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea,” the paper quoted sources at the RCC as saying.

They said the RCC received the request from the ministry this week.
The list of “projects for which anchor investors are being actively
sought” was compiled by Russia’s trade mission in Ukraine and their
approximate cost exceeds $5 billion, they said.

An employee at the Russian trade mission in Ukraine said he was
instructed to compile the list of investment projects after Dec. 17,
the paper reported. At that time, a meeting was held in Moscow of the
Russian-Ukrainian governmental commission chaired by the two countries’
presidents, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovych, the paper said. An
agreement was signed on the construction of a bridge across the Kerch
Strait and agreements were reached on a gas discount for Ukraine.

“The list of investment projects was compiled very quickly. We sent
it to the Russian Economic Development Ministry at the end of the year
already,” Kommersant quoted the trade mission employee as saying. He
said that now “the situation is hardly favorable for starting the
implementation of new projects.”

The paper reported a source at the RCC as saying that issues
concerning Russian entrepreneurs’ participation in investment projects
in Ukraine were developed in 2013 within the context of
Russian-Ukrainian business cooperation. But in the last version Crimean
projects were put into a separate list.

The ministry did not accompany its proposals with any explanations
related to the changing political situation in Ukraine, the paper’s
source said. He did not rule out that the Economic Development Ministry
is simply following through on old plans, the relevance of which has yet
to be confirmed.

Nonetheless, regardless of the political situation, the RCC sent out the notice to all of its members, the source said.

The director of coordination, development and regulation of foreign
economic activities at the Economic Development Ministry, Alexander
Tsybulsky confirmed that work had begun on looking for Russian investors
for projects in Crimea. He said “this is routine work.”

“Crimea is traditionally considered an attractive region for Russian
investors. At the same time, a decision was made to build the Kerch
bridge linking the Taman Peninsula [in Russia] and Crimea. This
decision, we believe, should give an additional push to cooperation
between these regions. This is why we have stepped work on looking for
potential Russian investors in Ukraine and in Crimea in particular,”
Tsybulsky said.

However, he added that “due to the events that have occurred in
Ukraine, the downgrading of Ukraine’s rating by international agencies,
the investment appeal of this region has decreased considerably.”