Delegates of the Crimean-Tatar People’s Kurultai passed a decree on the realization of their right to self-identification in Crimea last weekend. According to Interfax, the document starts political and legal procedures to form a national and territorial autonomy of Crimean Tatars on their homeland. The Kurultai asked the UN, Council of Europe, EU, OSCE, OIC to support their right for self-identification to form a national and territorial autonomy.
Moscow insists that Crimea will be attractive for Russians, Tatars and Ukrainians under Russian control. Experts predict an even greater drop in economic development and a higher outflow of capital.
Mikhail Delyagin, an economist, director of the Institute for Globalization Problems, described the economic effect of Crimea annexation and prospects for development of the North and South Caucasus in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.
- What economic effect may annexation of Crimea have in Russia?
- Crimea is 1% of the Russian economy and the region will need 90 billion rubles a year. However, even if experts are wrong and it needs twice as much money, it is absolutely inessential. In terms of gross volumes, it will have no economic impact. In terms of quality, we have a unique opportunity to form a model in Crimea that would combine all the good of Ukraine with all the good we have, without our flaws, insane corruption (there is corruption but it is not the same as ours, it is more decentralized), without disorders of monopolies, without insane instructions, without many things and without the uncontrolled crime that has been happening in Ukraine before the Nazi turnover. We have an opportunity and I see no reasons why we should not use it.
Water is certainly important, transportation is important, energy is important because there would be nothing without them. But this is not enough. Crimea is a perfect model for development of Russia which we will then pass on.
- What is your evaluation of economic cooperation of Russia and South Caucasus states?
- We have good ties with Armenia, in terms of cutting brilliants. Cooperation is developing there. We have partly allowed Georgian goods to our market. It is a good step forward. Financial cooperation and exchange of goods with Azerbaijan is not very well registered in the financial statistics. But we have normal collaboration. Though I see gathering clouds and new threats of war in Nagorno-Karabakh, I do not know what to do about it. It has to be stopped somehow.
- What is your evaluation of prospects for development of economy in the North Caucasus?
- First of all, financial transfers need to be put in order. Russia allocates enormous sums of money there, only about 10% or less of which are spent, 50% of the population is left in poverty. When advertisements “Visits resorts of the North Caucasus!” started appearing in Moscow, people could not hold their laughter.
I do not know the North Caucasus well enough, but it would be nice to see scores for the Unified State Exam given to school graduates coincide with at least approximate knowledge. When a person with 90 or more points for the Unified State Exam in Russian cannot even write an application to enter a university, what reindustrialization can we talk about?
