Kiev’s Sanctions Against Russia Backfire at Ukrainian Economy

Ukrainian authorities fined Russian airline companies over $28 million for operating flights to Crimea. Political analyst told Radio Sputnik that Ukraine "punishes itself" with such moves.

Ukrainian aviation authorities have issued a total of over 5,000 rulings over violations of the flight ban to Crimea.

In particular, over 1,000 fines-related cases were opened against Aeroflot. Recently, the company announced it would launch Sochi-Simferopol flights next year.

At the same time, the agency said that Russian airline companies have not paid a single fine so far.

Crimea reunified with Russia after a referendum in March 2017. Almost 97 percent of the region's population voted for reunification in a referendum. Ukraine, the European Union and the United States did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.

After the referendum, Kiev suspended aerial, railway and bus trasport with the peninsula. In September 2015, Kiev decided to introduce sanctions against Russian airlines operating flights to Crimea.

By acting economically against Russia, Ukraine rather damages its own economy, said Andrei Suzdaltsev, the deputy head of the Faculty of World Economic and International Relations at the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics.

"Ukraine is punishing itself, punishing severely and for the long-run. The situation is dangerous for Kiev. Currently, the country is struggling to receive money and investments. The Ukraine economy badly needs money. But the best indicator of the Ukrainian business climate is relations with Russia. Russia is the main market for Ukraine," Suzdaltsev told Radio Sputnik.

The idea was that Ukraine would turn to the West, but use Russian money, resources and energy supplies. Now, Kiev appears to be punishing itself with its anti-Russian economic moves, the expert added.

According to him, sometimes Kiev’s policy turns into an "anecdote." Suzdaltsev also described the situation with control over the Crimean sky as "madness."

"There is a very sensitive problem: who controls the sky over Crimea? In fact, Russia is in charge because Crimea is part of Russia. The West unofficially admits this because no one wants to have an uncontrolled airspace," he said.

"But the actual situation is madness. There is a special agency in Ukraine on the Crimean issues. It is tracking each flight to the peninsula. Ukraine complains non-stop. Sometimes the situation turns into an anecdote. Kiev imposed sanctions on companies constructing the Russian bridge to Crimea. These sanctions have nothing to do with aerial communication," the expert concluded.