Crimea without light: activists blocked repair work

After the collapse of two power lines in the Crimea on Sunday, 1,6 a million people were left without light. Due to damage stopped working a total of four lines, according to which electricity comes from mainland Ukraine to the Crimea, annexed by Russia in March 2014 of the year.

According to Ukrenergo, the nature of the damage indicates that the supports fell as a result of shelling or the use of explosives. According to police, an explosion occurred in the area between Chaplinka and the village of Novoe.

The Russian authorities have introduced a state of emergency on the peninsula, introducing schedules for turning off the light in cities and villages. Monday was declared a day off due to a power outage.

Meanwhile, activists in the Kherson region, among whom the Crimean Tatars predominate, blocked repair work, seeking to fulfill a number of their requirements for the protection of human rights in the Crimea.

According to the leader of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemilev, activists demand, among other things, the immediate release of political prisoners in Crimea.

“We have put forward our conditions - this is the release of political prisoners in Crimea, there are more than ten people there, the creation of a commission to investigate the abduction and murder of people, the admission of an international monitoring group to investigate the human rights situation in Crimea and the restoration of democratic freedoms,” said Dzhemilev Ukrainian service BBC.

Participants in the civil blockade of the Crimea are currently ready to put repairmen on two damaged power lines in the Kherson region.

However, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov at an emergency meeting of the government on Monday said that repair work can only be carried out on one line at the time - “Kakhovka - Titan”.

“Regarding the rest, we insist that <...> work cannot be carried out on them until we have fully rehabilitated these lines in terms of potential threats of additional explosions and sabotage attacks. We have information that such attacks are possible and planned, regardless of the point of view of the Mejlis and the Crimean Tatars, law enforcement officers, ”Avakov said.

According to BBC Ukraine, shops and cafes are closed in the Crimea, there is no Internet and telephone connection, in the cities almost complete darkness - no street lamps, no light from the windows.

At the same time, the head of the annexed peninsula, Sergey Aksenov, stated that the situation with electricity supply could be normalized only by the New Year holidays.

“We believe that it is necessary to prepare for the worst option, namely: the emergency period will last until the commissioning of the first stage of the energy bridge through the Kerch Strait, that is, until December 22. But this is not 100%, ”says Aksenov’s statement.

Earlier, the President of Ukraine a petition was sent about disconnecting the Crimea from the power supply. The document scored the required number of votes in less than two months, and now has to be considered by the head of state within ten days.

And Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that his country intends to demand at least a trillion from Russia dollars for the annexed Crimea and the destroyed Donbass.