MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that while Western sanctions make it somewhat difficult to develop Crimea, they are not fatal.
“It was obvious that we will face not just the objective difficulties of a transitional period, but attempts of external opposition. Indeed, a whole host of western countries introduced the so-called sanctions and restrictions both against Crimea and Russia as a whole. It should be said that our neighbors have not been particularly inventive either: they either turn off water, or create some other problems,” Putin said at a meeting which focused on the development of the Crimean Federal District.
“All this, of course, is not fatal, but does, of course, cause certain damage to the current effort,” he said.
