“Medieval methods of siege”: Bundestag deputy commented on water blockade of Crimea

German Bundestag deputy Waldemar Gerdt from the Alternative for Germany party promised to discuss with his colleagues the water blockade of Crimea arranged by Ukraine and check whether Kiev has violated international law.

“Stopping the supply of fresh water to the territory is some kind of medieval siege method. I will raise the issue in the Bundestag so that the Commission on Human Rights consider whether international law is being infringed, on the basis of which decisions are made to cut off water, especially by Ukraine, where Germany is investing millions of euros in the development of democratic processes,” Gerdt told RIA Novosti.

The deputy was surprised that the “democratic and tolerant Western society” is still silent on the issue of the water blockade of the region.

“If we remove the political context and imagine where the logic of Ukraine is. They say: this is our Crimea, these are our people, we love them so much and want to return them back that we will cut off the drinking water. This is an antihuman approach,” the source said.

Earlier, the head of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, said that he would ask the Prosecutor General’s Office to initiate a criminal case on the attempted genocide against the organizers of the water blockade of the peninsula.

Ukraine provided up to 85 percent of the peninsula’s fresh water needs through the North Crimean Canal running from the Dnieper. However, after the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the supply of water through the canal to the republic was completely stopped.
The issue of water supply was resolved through the extraction of water from underground sources and natural reservoirs, which over the past year have become significantly shallower due to the low amount of precipitation. Due to the shortage of water, the authorities introduced regime water supply to houses in the regions of Crimea, the water supply of Simferopol was mainly reoriented to artesian sources.

According to the head of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov, the regional authorities fully control the water supply. The deputy said that water from Ukraine is not needed, so it is unsuitable for use: in the Dnieper, he claims, sewage is dumped, and sanitary standards are not observed.