By a decree of the de facto President of the Tskhinvali region, Anatoly Bibilov, the so-called Ministry of Emergency Situations was instructed to provide assistance to the flood affected city of Kerch in the occupied Crimea.

Bibilov noted that Kerch and Tskhinvali are twin cities, and “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” and there is still much to be done by respective services despite the fact that water drainage is already underway.

 On June 17, a powerful cyclone brought rainstorms to Crimea, flooding over 300 houses in the “eastern” part of Crimea - Kerch and surrounding areas. On June 18, the cyclone spread to Yalta, flooding streets, and houses and killing one person. The de facto Head of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, introduced an emergency situation.

The Tskhinvali region was one of the first to establish contacts with Russia after the annexation of Crimea. In April 2019, Aksenov and Bibilov signed a cooperation agreement between the de facto governments in the fields of trade, economy, science, technology, and culture. An action plan for 2019-2022 was also developed for the agreement implementation. At the same time, an agreement on the twinning of Tskhinvali and Kerch was signed in Crimea.