2016-01-02 17:34:00

Crimea in the dark as Ukraine halts energy supplies


(Vatican Radio)  Residents in Crimea face several more months of power shortages after Russia apparently ended a contract with Ukraine to deliver electricity to the peninsula, which also saw a perceived crackdown on Ukrainian culture in Russian-annexed Crimea. 

Listen to Stefan Bos' report:

Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow isn't eager to make a New Year deal with Ukraine to supply electricity to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. He suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not renew the contract, which expired on New Year's day, as Kiev insisted on stipulating in the contract that the peninsula belongs to Ukraine.

"According to Kiev, the contract must contain the following formulation: 'Electricity is supplied to Crimea on the territory of Ukraine.' We disagreed with that formulation. I reported this to President Putin."

It prompted Putin to commission an opinion poll to determine whether Crimean residents want to be a part of Ukraine to continue getting power supplies from Ukrainian company Ukrenegro.

Russian media claimed that over 90 percent of Crimeans said in the poll they would be against renewing the contract under those circumstances, even if it meant experiencing more minor disruptions in supply.

Electricity shortages

That's why New Year has begun amid electricity shortages throughout the peninsula of two million people.

After a month of on-and-off electricity supplies from Ukraine due to sabotage of high-voltage transmission lines feeding the peninsula, power to Crimea was reportedly officially cut off at midnight local time on December 31.

Yet, residents trying to briefly forget their misery by going to a theater may face difficulties amid a perceived crackdown on Ukrainian culture.  

Even a popular children's drama school that staged Ukrainian-language plays in Crimea is shutting down after what its founders described as a campaign of harassment from local officials. 

Svitanok or Sunrise had taught children for more than two decades and was a well-established institution in Crimea's regional capital Simferopol.  

Girl's crown

But its latest performance was condemned by local culture officials as it alleged promoted both Ukrainian nationalism and Western symbols. 

They reportedly took offense at the costume of a little girl wearing a golden crown and impersonating the sun which they interpreted as a reference to New York's Statue of Liberty. 

Songs Of The Amazon, performed in December to mark St. Nicholas Day, told the story of Amazons -- the female warriors of Greek myth -- battling evil and fighting for freedom and the independence of their native land. 

But those battles aren't welcomed by authorities in 21th century Crimea which, at least for the moment, has been partly plunged into darkness.








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