Sabotage in Crimea Risks Military Move by Putin

[Purveyor]

The Russian-annexed peninsula is cast into darkness. If the pain gets worse, will the Kremlin carve out a land bridge, defying the West?

Carol Matlack Leonid Ragozin
November 23, 2015 — 1:29 PM EST

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has taken an ominous new turn. So far it's Crimea that's paying the price, but Kiev could be next.

The Russian-held peninsula was plunged into darkness over the weekend as saboteurs in Ukraine cut off most of its electricity supply. A series of explosions in the south, starting on Thursday, knocked out transmission lines that supply 80 percent of Crimea's electricity. Most of the peninsula still has little or no power, and the Crimean government has declared a state of emergency, as Ukrainian protesters block utility crews from repairing the damage.

"It feels like you've descended into the Stone Age," Vladimir Garnachuk, a former Crimean government official, said by telephone from Sevastopol, where households are getting three to six hours of electricity a day.

Today, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine would temporarily suspend freight traffic to the peninsula, which depends on rail and truck shipments from Ukraine for most of its food and other essentials. The action follows weeks of protests at border crossings, where Crimean Tatars and right-wing Ukrainian nationalists have been disrupting truck traffic into Crimea, including a complete blockage for the past week. In a statement on his website, Poroshenko said the national government in Kiev would engage in consultations "to determine a model of future relations with temporarily occupied Crimea."

Some protesters are demanding that Kiev sever all economic relations with Crimea. "There can't be a free economic zone in territories where bandits rule and where human rights are rudely violated," Mustafa Jemilev, a Ukrainian lawmaker and Crimean Tatar leader, said at a government meeting today.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-23/sabotage-in-crimea-risks-military-move-by-putin

[newthinking]

1. There is no risk. They are already invested in connecting through the east.

(On edit this story is baloney. They quote poroshenko claiming to now cut off food supplies and claim Crimea's primary supply of food is from Ukraine. They cut food trade months ago. Food in crimea is being sourced elsewhere already. There is a fair amount of Ukraine goods that get through in unofficial methods (Ukraine corruption), but Crimea is no longer dependent on it.)

Russia's response was to cut off coal shipments to Ukraine until it is resolved.

Work on the new bridge from Russia is already under way.