Crimea declares state of emergency after power crisis
Around 2 million people living in Crimea faced black out after electric pylons which supply power from Ukraine were blown up.
Pro-Ukrainian activists prevented repairs to sabotaged power lines leading to Crimea on Monday, keeping the Russian-annexed peninsula starved of electricity for a second day and tensions between Moscow and Kyiv high.
Russian Federation annexed Crimea in March 2014 from Ukraine, however numerous principle utilities, including electricity, however run from the mainland.
Mr. Novak also said gas supplies to Ukraine would be cut off on Tuesday and Wednesday because Kyiv had not made an advance payment.
Police said later on Saturday that the repairs had been completed but the towers were hit by explosions in the early hours of yesterday.
Russian Federation has blamed Ukrainian nationalists from far-right party Right Sector and Crimean Tatar activists for the pylon damage, calling it “an act of terrorism”.
A senator representing the peninsula in Russia’s Federation Council told RIA Novosti on Monday that retaliatory measures, including halting coal exports to Ukraine, “could not be ruled out”.
Sergei V. Aksyonov, the prime minister of Crimea, asked people not to use electric appliances like heaters – the temperature was more than 60 degrees – and said street lighting would remain off to preserve power for more essential purposes.
“The emergency regime introduced in Crimea will continue until the full restoration of power supply to the peninsula”, he clarified later. It is suspected that these activists were behind the pylon explosions, but no one has claimed responsibility. Two police officers were attacked by demonstrators near the site and a fix crew was thwarted by the demonstrators pushing for an economic blockade, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry in Kyiv said Sunday.
But Ukraine’s state energy company, Ukrenergo, said the damage was caused by “shelling or the use of explosive devices”.
Crimea experienced several total power cuts last winter, attributed by the authorities to repairs and technical problems but seen by residents as deliberate pressure from Ukraine.
Russia’s Energy Ministry said emergency electricity supplies had been turned on for critical needs in Crimea and that mobile gas turbine generators were being used.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s administration will consult with the Tatars on what kinds of goods can be allowed to pass into Crimea, the government said in an emailed statement.