On September 20, Crimea's indigenous Tatars together with Ukrainian activists and Right Sector militants launched an economic blockade of Crimea. During the week's economic blockade, not a single truck crossed the administrative border between the Ukrainian mainland and Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula. Trucks from Crimea are also not allowed into Ukraine. Hundreds of trucks containing perishable goods bound for Crimea were stuck on the Ukrainian side of the border. However, there are messages that the trucks will be allowed to cross the border if they pay money.
The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, declared the “food blockage” of Crimea as an action of public activists. He thinks it will help Ukraine to get the Crimea back.
According to the Ukrainian news agency UNN, the President of Ukraine stated that in Lvov, where he met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Poroshenko hopes that the blockage will force the Crimean citizens to reconsider their position and go back to Ukraine.
From the financial point of view, the blockage is profitable only to the organizers. They offer the truck drivers either to sell the products to the nearby regions at very low prices or pay the fee to get into Crimea on their own vehicles. Only money is concerned.
