MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2022) Russia will have to reconstruct the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics practically from scratch, investing about 1 trillion rubles ($17.4 billion), Andrey Suzdaltsev, a political scientist at the Russian National Research University Higher school of Economics, told Sputnik on Friday.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a ceremony of signing agreements on the accession of the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to Russia will be held in Moscow on September 30.
"During the existence of independent Ukraine, the authorities only took resources from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and did not invest anything in them. Therefore, after the accession of the DPR and the LPR, Russia will have to reconstruct them practically from scratch, investing about a trillion rubles to bring these regions up to Russian standards," Suzdaltsev said.
According to the expert, the industry of the regions suffered enormous losses.
"Most of the coal mines have exhausted their resources, and besides, coal mining is very expensive in these regions. The economy is disrupted. The largest metallurgical plants are not operating. Unique enterprises that produce machine-building products and various kinds of mining equipment that are not available on the Russian market are not working. Few factories are still in operation," Suzdaltsev added.
It is necessary "to stabilize the situation, to make a guaranteed peace" in these territories, Suzdaltsev said, adding that until then, no one will invest money there.
