� SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2021) Crimea will demand that Ukraine pay compensation for financial damages borne by local residents after Ukrainian banks withdrew all assets from the peninsula, Crimean parliament chairman Vladimir Konstantinov said on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Crimean legislature asked law enforcement to open criminal cases into 12 Ukrainian citizens deemed responsible for the blockade on the peninsula by Kiev. This includes cuts in supplies of water, food and energy, as well as transport communications.
"This includes the banking sector as well," Konstantinov told journalists, adding "We will seek compensation for damages, and that those responsible are held liable."
According to the lawmaker, Ukrainian banks, when terminating their operations on the peninsula, withdrew the deposits of local residents, including social payments such as pensions, drawing the money out in both cash and wire transfers.
The Crimean authorities will estimate the losses in a cumulative package and demand compensation from Ukraine, Konstantinov said.
Following Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014, Ukrainian banks retreated from the peninsula and refused to communicate with local residents who wanted to withdrew their deposits. Crimea's Depositor Protection Fund committed to compensating people with lost deposits of up to 700,000 rubles ($9,500). For larger deposits, the Crimean authorities resorted to nationalizing the local property of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, the owner of Ukraine's PrivatBank.
