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Russia needs to negotiate with Ukraine on water supplies to the peninsula, the expert believes.
Senior fellow at the Institute of Water of the Russian Academy of Sciences, hydrogeology engineer Yuriy Medovar warned that the Russia-seized Crimea could exhaust its drinking water reserves as early as in May 2019.
The Crimean peninsula cannot exist without Ukraine. Without water, a disaster is looming over it, the expert said in an interview with the Fakty newspaper.
According to the researcher, Russia needs to negotiate with Ukraine and consider purchasing Ukrainian water.
Read alsoCut off: Occupied Crimea drying out – Hromadske International
"... In May, they [Crimea] may be out of drinking water. Previously, 300 cubic meters of drinking water was transferred via the Crimean Canal per second. Now Ukraine has blocked the canal. Our rulers [in Russia] say, never mind. We will take water from the Kuban or the Don [rivers in mainland Russia]. We will build an aqueduct and run water through it," the expert said.
"Soon, those living on the banks of these rivers will face big problems with water. It's already a bit salty as it doesn't have enough time to cleanse. And you're going to pump it to Crimea?" the analyst raised the question.
As reported earlier, Ukraine had covered up to 85% of Crimea's fresh water needs. The water flowed to the peninsula from the Dnipro river along the North-Crimean Canal.
After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukrainian authorities cut off water supplies to the seized peninsula.