You're reading: Official: Crimea to receive Russian help, $80-90 million per month

Crimea has asked Russia for $1 billion to cover the budget deficit, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev told Russian reporters in Brussels on Friday.

“One billion dollars will be allocated to the budget deficit of Crimea, which could emerge as a result of transfers from Ukraine not coming in. I think that we do not need to decide on the entire billion, we need to decide on technical compensation of Crimea’s budget each month at the level of $80-90 million,” Ulyukayev said.

“In any case we should make a decision because the Crimean authorities have reached out to us on this issue and we will have to discuss and decide regardless of the referendum results and possible decisions to follow. This is a humanitarian, technical and financial issue we should deal with,” the minister said.

Another $5 billion is being discussed in this regard. Investment projects of Russian companies could proceed only if it will profitable for them, Ulyukayev said. “This is just normal business,” he said.

As to the assistance to Ukraine, $3 billion has been invested in Eurobonds for Ukraine, Ulyukayev said.

“We can sell them on the market if a customer exists and we can try to sell them to the issuer but this is regulated completely by normal legal standards. But we cannot collect these funds from Ukraine,” the minister said.

As to $12 billion remaining, Russia will discuss this with the Ukrainian government, “when a legitimate partner will emerge, at least, after the elections,” Ulyukayev said.

“We should realize who our partner is, what the Ukrainian government is, which program it is following, and what personalities are in it in order to be certain that this is a risk-free investment,” the minister said.