Activists cut electricity to Crimea, state of emergency called

Activists of the Citizens Blockade of Crimea succeeded on Nov. 21 in cutting electricity supplies to the peninsula from the Ukrainian mainland by sabotaging electricity supply lines in the neighboring Kherson region. Crimean authorities declared a state of emergency the early morning of Nov. 22, closing schools and nurseries for Nov. 23. By that evening, the peninsula’s 2 mln residents suffered from not only lacking electricity, but also lacking water, heating, gasoline and access to cash, reported the news.allcrimea.net news site. Half of Crimea’s supermarkets were closed.

UkrEnergo, the state electricity utility, announced it will renew supplies to the Crimean peninsula by Nov. 24, reported the pravda.com.ua news site, citing an anonymous source, reported the RIA Novosti news site. Crimea is dependent on Ukraine for 70 percent of its electricity supply, the report said. Meanwhile, Crimean Tatar activists said they will allow for the renewal of only two lines, whose supply is limited to the Ukrainian mainland. They will restore electricity upon Russia’s release of political prisoners held in Crimea and Russia, said on Nov. 23 Mustafa Dzhemilev, a Crimean Tatar leader.

Conflicts between the activists and Ukrainian National Guardsmen and Ukrainian Interior Ministry officers erupted during the sabotage, resulting in at least a half dozen injuries, reported the pravda.com.ua news site on Nov. 22. A Crimean Tatar journalist was also reported to have been beaten. These Ukrainian authorities attempted to re-establish the electricity lines, to minimal success. Both the Crimean and Ukrainian government filed criminal charges in relation to the sabotage.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered the government on Nov. 21 to use all measures to cease all trade with the Crimean peninsula, announced Crimean Tatar Mejlis Head Refat Chubarov after meeting with him, reported the liga.net news agency. The president had yet to issue such a decree as of Nov. 23. In addition, Chubarov indicated the president wouldn’t support the electricity sabotage, only stating that the blockade’s leaders will continue talks with Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn this week.

Zenon Zawada: This weekend’s events marked the strongest resistance by the Crimean Tatar population against the Russian occupation. The Crimean population is losing patience with the approach to the Russian occupation taken by Kyiv, in tandem with Washington and Brussels. What’s most striking is the position of the Ukrainian government, which worked to combat the Crimean activists this weekend and is trying to renew electricity supplies.

As a result, the ranks of the anti-Putin, anti-Poroshenko coalition among the Ukrainian public is swelling, which also includes nationalist forces. As we’ve been observing for months, the situation in Ukraine is growing increasingly tense with a strong potential for anti-government revolts next year.

While the West is aiming for Russian President Putin’s grip on power to collapse under the weight of economic sanctions, the Russian government is playing the same game in Ukraine. And the pressure is mounting for Poroshenko, who faces difficult decisions in the coming year that could exacerbate even more opposition from the Ukrainian public. We expect 2016 to be a make-or-break year not only for Poroshenko, but also for Ukrainian statehood, considering that 2017 is widely viewed as the make-or-break year for Putin.