YALTA (Russia), (Sputnik) — During the All-Russia People's Front forum in Crimea, Putin said:
"There are a lot of questions and small problems, which are invisible at first glance. The federal authorities try to do something themselves, but they do not know the local conditions… That's why the question of entering, as I said, the Russian legal and administrative framework has turned out to be a difficult process, but we have practically overcome the main issues."
The president also noted that one of the main impediments to progress has been the fact that local authorities, who have volunteered to oversee the integration, "do not know how the laws and the system of Russia are organized."
Crimea, Russia's historical southern region, seceded from Ukraine to rejoin Russia in March 2014. Almost 97 percent of the region's population voted for reunification in a referendum. Sevastopol, which has a federal city status, supported the move by 95.6 percent of votes. The referendum was held after a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.
