“The assessment of losses is necessary to seek compensation for these losses through international courts, obliging the Russian Federation to pay the corresponding amounts or arresting the assets of entities involved in the occupation, in Ukraine or even abroad,” the CES said.
According to the Center, the $135 billion is the direct loss of assets, which includes the land value on the Crimean peninsula ($3 billion) and proven reserves of raw material deposits ($52.3 billion), including natural gas and crude oil fields.
Also, there are losses of residential real estate by the population ($42.7 billion), losses of private companies ($18.4 billion) and banks ($ 2.7 billion), losses of the state ($14 billion) and local communities ($ 1.7 billion).
The assessment doesn’t include the macroeconomic repercussions of the temporary occupation of the Crimean peninsula, as those can’t be separated from the impact of the entire set of aggressive actions of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Thus, this is only a minimal proven estimate of Ukraine’s economic losses.
Due to the occupation of Crimea, Ukraine lost about 4.5% of its total area, which corresponds to 27 thousand km², or 2.7 million hectares. But not all this area can be evaluated in monetary terms. In particular, 20% of the area is covered by mountains, another 8% has reservoirs. The total value of 755 thousand hectares of cultivated lands was estimated at about 3 billion dollars.
Ukrainians could have lost almost 935 thousand apartments, which is equal to 49 million square meters of housing. The total market value of Crimean housing at that time reached almost $43 billion.
Private owners, numbering 20,000 business structures, had lost $18.488 billion in assets. Among the lost industries are power generation and distribution, gas distribution, processing industry, and construction.
As of the beginning of 2014, the assets of state-owned companies that were registered directly in Crimea before the temporary occupation amounted to $2.7 billion. Among the largest are energy companies were Chornomornaftogaz and the Feodosiya Petroleum Supply Company.
Further reading:
- Ukraine’s economic losses due to Russian occupation of Donbas
- Russians relocated to occupied Crimea now make up one-third of the population, experts say
- 15% of Ukraine’s GDP: the economic cost of Russia’s hybrid war
- Forced migration in Crimea as part of Russia’s ‘hybrid’ strategy
- Is Crimea now costing Russia more than it is worth?
- Ukraine’s water blockade of Crimea should stay, because it’s working
- European Court of Human Rights hints Russia responsible for Donbas damages
- Russia can’t solve Crimea’s water problem
- Russia’s replacement of population in occupied Crimea violates Geneva Convention – UN report
- Reintegration Costs of Donbas: $22 Billion or More?
- Crimea’s economy. When Russia’s words and figures don’t meet (2016)
