MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) – After its reunification with Russia, the breakaway region of Crimea is bracing for an influx of Russian tourists who have hastily changed their vacation plans to pass the summer on the peninsula's sprawling Black Sea beaches, a senior Crimean official said Thursday.
“We welcome the people from other Russian regions who have decided to support the Republic in this crucial moment,” Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliyev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“We’ve registered a hike in passenger turnover at the Simferopol airport,” he said, adding Crimean sanatoriums were in for an extraordinarily busy summer.
“We can confirm that all our sanatoriums and resort facilities, including 176 major ones, will be full-to-bursting over summertime, from June 1 to approximately September 15,” the minister stressed.
He said the Crimean authorities were negotiating additional traffic routes, with Russia’s Novorossiysk and Anapa ports to run ferry services to Crimea.
Crimea, previously an autonomous republic within Ukraine, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Kiev, which seized power as a result of a coup in February, instead rejoining Russia after a referendum that saw over 96 percent of voters in the region back the motion to leave Ukraine.
Crimea and Sevastopol, which have a special status within the region, became subjects of the Russian Federation on March 21 after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed reunification documents into law.
Russia has repeatedly said that Ukrainian nationalists and the government’s attempts to forcefully assimilate the Russian-speaking minority bore full responsibility for the civil crisis in the country.
