Interview by Vladimir Nesterov.
Especially for Vestnik Kavkaza
On January 1 the transition period was completed in Crimea. A system of compulsory health insurance began operating there, employers have moved to a new system of taxation, the Russian system of social insurance started working. Significant investment from the federal budget was directed to the development of Crimea and Sevastopol. The law establishing a special economic zone in Crimea is designed to solve the problems of development of infrastructure on the peninsula, attract investment and development of small and medium-sized businesses. We are talking about investments in the development of existing and creation of new industries, development of transport infrastructure, tourism, agriculture and health resort areas. It's about the way Crimea and Sevastopol are starting to live in a new environment, Vestnik Kavkaza was told by a member of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, a representative of the legislative body of the government of the city of Sevastopol, Olga Timofeeva.
- From January 1, Sevastopol and Crimea switched to Russian standards. How much are they willing to become full-fledged subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of following Russian legislation?
- Univalently we need to switch to these standards. The longer we postpone it, the harder it will be to enter the system. But in some areas in these issues the possibility of transition was left until March 1. These are the issues of re-registration of legal entities. It is necessary to minimize the traumatic effects of the transition period. The most sensitive issue for Sevastopol is the judicial system. Now we have the same judges who judged in the name of Ukraine, now they will judge in the name of the Russian Federation. I would look closely at the judicial system. Because there may be distortions. Each of us, everyone who represents the Russian state, whatever he is doing, he could be in a bureaucratic position, in the judiciary, he сould represent a power ministry, but everyone by his actions either enhances Russian statehood or reduces it. If a judge does not judge according to the law, but by a concept, it actually destroys Russian statehood. So, like any officer, if he allows himself to be indifferent, and pays no attention to the man, he destroys Russian statehood. If you do not want to work, it is your right, then just go away.
- The question of the Crimean Tatars. When Crimea was a part of Ukraine precisely this ethnic group was suppressed, by using the method of divide and rule. How far has cooperation with the Crimean Tatar population been established?
- Not so long ago, the news agency RIA Novosti made a report by [human rights activist Alexander] Brod on issues related to the adaptation of the Crimean Tatar population to the new space's capabilities. I really liked the performance of the chairman of the state committee for international relations and deported citizen of the Republic of Crimea Zaur Ruslanovich Smirnov. He so thoroughly laid out the situation.
Now there is no more speculation, according to the law of equal rights for all. Nobody is trying to isolate one nation, one nationality, and start rocking the situation; everyone is equal before the law, we are all citizens of the Russian Federation, we all have equal rights, equal opportunities and equal responsibilities accordingly.
The policy of the new Crimean government allows us to draw conclusions that the issue will be resolved positively. There were speculations that thousands of Crimean Tatars had left the peninsula in disagreement. Not thousands! Just 600 people have left. It is the right of the people to determine their future, their destiny ...
On February 26 last year preparations for a provocation of the "majlis" on the square in front of the Supreme Council was stopped by a single call from Ramzan Kadyrov. I do not know what they were talking with representatives of the "Majlis" about, but this call led to the fact that for half an hour the whole dissatisfied angry mass, which was ready to be thrown into the conflict, was appeased.
- The US Treasury Department has set the deadline by which American companies and individuals should terminate the business relationship with Crimea - February 1. US citizens and US companies banned exports of goods, technologies and services to Crimea. Also, US investment in the peninsula and imports of goods and services from the country are banned, US companies are prohibited from buying real estate and business in Crimea. How sensitive are the sanctions for Crimea?
- This is diplomatic demarche, and an attempt to prevent the creation of a free economic zone, which gives broad powers to the Crimea and Sevastopol. However, not accidentally, during his recent trip to India the Russian president invited the prime minister of Crimea Aksenov to move directly to search for forms for more intensive development of the region.
Once Crimea starts gaining momentum it will actually demonstrate to the world that for 23 years the Ukrainian state, as a state, did not exist, that it was written declaratively, but it was not independent, and not capable. That is why they are trying by all means to extinguish the activity of Crimea and Sevastopol, to prevent the formation of the conditions of development, which could be obtained at the start.
I think in this regard the story of the Crimean Dnieper channel is very revealing. In spring, Ukraine is stopping water flow into the channel, its fertile territory flooded in Kherson, excess water is discharged into the sea, aimed at Crimea not getting water for agricultural purposes. But it is alright, military personnel worked, identified artesian wells, and filled the Crimean Canal with water of better quality. This is how it will be in all other matters related to the sanctions. The more we put pressure on, the more new forms and new opportunities we find.
"Though stones fall from the sky, we are in our homeland," says Sevastopol senator Olga Timofeeva.
