Without raising tankers, beaches will not open – head of Crimea on the 2025 tourist season

The 2025 resort season in Crimea directly depends on the results of the operation to salvage the sunken fuel oil tankers in the Kerch Strait. Only after their salvage will it be possible to assess the current situation.

The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov , announced this on air at Russia 24 , as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.

"If we clean it up before the resort season and show the beaches clean, everything will be fine . But, in any case, this problem won't be solved globally until the sunken ships are raised and everything in the tanks is fully recovered and disposed of. This will be a long-term situation."

But I know for sure that the Ministry of Transport plans to lift the ships, and the president has made a decision on this matter. Our colleagues are currently working with the federal headquarters on how to do this, and next week we will select all the dates, methods, and approaches and inform the public ," he emphasized.

Over 200 people visited Crimea during the New Year holidays, and most of them traveled to their vacation spot by car. According to the head of the region, this trend will continue in the summer.

"At a meeting with the president, the Minister of Transport reported that passenger traffic to Crimea by road had increased by 20% compared to last year. Over the same period, rail traffic increased slightly, by 143 passengers, a 2% increase compared to the same period.

One way or another, 11 pairs of trains are running . Many people now travel by land through historical territories – through Donbas, the Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. You could probably even say this is the main route . I think we'll have a decent holiday season. We need to overcome this situation, we'll deal with the consequences, but the full picture will be clear after the ships are lifted ," Aksyonov concluded.