"The progress is tangible, but in the situation with Crimea and in relation to the anti-Russia sanctions many investors choose to remain behind the scenes and not advertise their activities on the peninsula," Aksenov told the newspaper Izvestiya in an interview which was released Tuesday.
More than 96 percent of the Crimean electorate voted to reunite the region with Russia in a March 2014 referendum, almost exactly 60 years after the region was transferred from the Russian Soviet Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic under newly-elected Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev, who had formerly worked as the head of the Communist Party in Ukraine. However, the West and Kiev did not recognize the results of the referendum, accusing Moscow of annexing the former Ukrainian region.
Several international delegations, including one from France, have visited the peninsula.
