Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
Maria in Crimea
Maria is not impressed by Kiev's efforts to 'win back' Crimea

Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova held a beach-side press briefing during her trip to Sevastopol.

Maria used the opportunity to analyze Kiev's daily outbursts about 'returning' Crimea.

Zakharova found it odd that a government which insists that Crimea is Ukrainian continues to dream up new and extremely unsuccessful ways to make life for Crimeans miserable.

Not very logical, as Maria elegantly pointed out:
We are no longer surprised by decisions the Ukrainian authorities make with respect to Crimean residents. They seek to hurt them while in reality their actions hurt the Ukrainian economy.

For instance, Ukraine's transport blockade of Crimea has led, in fact, to the complete severing of economic ties and the reduction of people-to-people contacts. Businesspeople on the peninsula have naturally turned to establishing ties with the business communities of other Russian regions. Such ties are getting closer and will grow stronger in the future with the opening of the highway and railway bridge across the Kerch Strait, which is being built at an accelerated pace.

The food blockade that Kiev introduced to create food shortages on the peninsula resulted in Ukrainian producers losing their share of Crimean market, which naturally was filled with Russian goods. The energy blockade, launched with the tacit approval of the Ukrainian authorities by extremist organisations banned in Russia - the Right Sector and the so-called Majlis of the Crimean Tatar People, who carried out blatant acts of terrorism, blowing up electric grid pylons - has only hastened the opening of the Crimea-Kuban energy bridge to make Crimea independent of Ukraine for its energy needs. I reiterate that the Russian side regards the crippling of energy sources as an act of terrorism.

I would like to inform those who don't know that the foundational international law documents signed by European countries, particularly the European Union member states, say that deliberate damage to civil infrastructure should be regarded as terrorism. We have not seen even a slightly critical international response. As the result of its own actions, Kiev has deprived itself of the opportunity to purchase electric energy in Russia at manufacturers' prices.

The Ukrainian authorities announced the other day that a dam will be put into operation to block Crimea's access to water from the Dnieper. Reportedly, the dam is meant to perform an "essential geopolitical mission". The pointlessness of this step is evident because water has not been supplied to the peninsula since spring 2014 and the Crimean people have learned to procure water from other sources.

As we look at the Ukrainian authorities' actions, we cannot but wonder whom they are trying to hit the hardest: the Crimean people whom they regard as their own citizens? They were jubilant when websites described Crimea as Ukrainian territory. That would mean they are bullying their own people, leaving them without water. This is not the way to treat one's own people. We have a feeling that someone in Kiev (we all know who) is trying to punish the Crimean people for the choice they made in 2014. The amount of cynicism and hypocrisy on display is stunning. These actions prove only one thing: that the right choice was made.