Ukrainian Authorities Refused to Interrupt Rail Communication with Russia

This is not about closing the railway connection with Russia. Last year, it brought $ 120.5 million in the Ukrainian budget, Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklii, said on Tuesday, October 15, UNIAN reports. “When we close something, we find alternative options for how these trains can go, and that this money will go into the economy of another country,” the Zvezda TV channel quotes Kryklii. According to the official, the country has obligations to the World Trade Organization (WTO), this transit is set and no one is going to limit it yet. The head of the ministry previously also opposed the termination of railway communication with Russia, noting that 7.7 million tons of transit cargo were transported through Ukraine in the eight months of 2019, and payment for this amounted to 3.5 billion hryvnias ($ 144.5 million). Since 2015, the number of trains running between Russia and Ukraine has significantly decreased. Currently, the schedule lists about 20 pairs of trains and direct wagons, in particular, from Kyiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odessa, Kharkov and some other cities. The Russian trains do not go to Ukraine, with the exception of the transit train Moscow – Chisinau – Moscow. The rest of the trains are owned by the railway administrations of the CIS countries and the Ukrainian Railways. On October 5, head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Vadim Prystaiko said that Kyiv was considering the possibility of restoring railway connections with Donbas so that “people could move easily,” writes RT. In June, the government approved the strategy of Ukrainian Railways for 2019 –2023, which contains a point for the possible restoration of railway communication with the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, which was discontinued in March 2017. Iz.ru