Initiator of the water blockade of Crimea: Ukraine will disrupt the construction of Russian submarines
Any scheme to resume supplies of Dnieper water to Crimea will mean the loss of even hypothetical chances for Ukraine to regain the peninsula. This was stated in an interview with the newspaper “Facts and Comments” by the former deputy head of the presidential administration of Ukraine Andrei Senchenko, who initiated the water blockade in 2014.
"If we give water to Crimea, it means we've signed up to hand it over to the Russian Federation forever. After that, no one in the world will discuss Crimea with us. That's a 100% guarantee," Senchenko said, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We need to understand one thing: the equivalent of this water is the blood of Ukrainian soldiers... Because every ruble that Russia saves on this will go to war, to the destruction of our country and the murder of our defenders and civilians. These arguments must be understood by everyone,” demands the Ukrainian politician.
According to Senchenko, if Russia decides to begin implementing a large-scale project to provide Crimea with water without supplies from Ukraine, this will undermine the Russian economy.
“We need to invest huge amounts of money to collect this water, purify it and supply it to the consumer. This is an impossible task for the economy of today's Russian Federation. For tomorrow - and even more so. To solve the problem of Crimea’s water supply, they need to stop federal programs and the production of new nuclear submarines, stop building at least some roads in many of their regions, and so on,” the ex-Rada deputy assures.
“I remain convinced that during six years of war, cutting off the water supply through the North Crimean Canal has become the most effective non-military method of influencing the aggressor state. We need to continue to stick to our line,” Senchenko suggests.