Simferopol, Crimea – Nearly 6,000 Crimeans have

returned unused tickets for Ukraine-bound trains to ticket offices after an

announcement by Ukraine on Friday that it was suspending its rail and bus

communication with Crimea, Crimea’s transportation minister said on Dec. 30.

“This right has been exercised by 5,820 passengers. Crimean Railways has paid

them about 4.17 million rubles as reimbursement,” Anatoly Tsurkin said at a

meeting of the Crimean government in Simferopol.