Putin ordered to leave the Crimean Paralympic training center to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to activists of the Crimean ONF in the village of Ponizovka, recalled that he had previously given instructions to give Ukrainian Paralympians the opportunity to use the training center built by Ukraine in Yevpatoria.
“Ukraine has a very good center for training Paralympic athletes here. I told them from the very beginning that they could use it and no one was going to take anything away. It will be the property of the Ukrainian Paralympic family. So that our Paralympians know that there are no irritations in relations with friends from Ukraine,” Putin said.
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The head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, assured the president that the Paralympic center has not changed owners and belongs to the “Sushkevich family.”
Earlier, the President of the National Committee for Sports for Disabled People of Ukraine, Valery Sushkevich, told Ukrainian media that “as a result of the annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian Paralympians lost one of the best centers for training and rehabilitation of disabled people in Europe - in Yevpatoria.”
“Crimea is not accessible today. Thank God, the base remains our property. Now our team remains there - the same director. We are keeping the center for Ukraine. But, unfortunately, it is inaccessible, and it is difficult to support it due to its difficult financial situation,” said Sushkevich.
The construction of the Evpatoria base was completed just before the change of flags on the peninsula. But the Ukrainian swimming team trained there only once - in 2014.
Putin ordered the Crimean Paralympic training center to be left to Ukraine.