Putin certain Russia can break any blockade, not only energy one

SOCHI, May 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday launched the fourth stretch of the power linkup with Crimea during a video conference from the southern Russian resort of Sochi.

The opening of the stretch will fully satisfy the region’s electric power requirements.

Prior to giving the start to connection of the fourth stretch, Putin listened to a reporet by Energy Minister Alexander Novak on the power grid’s readiness.

In late April at a meeting with members of the Council of Legislators under parliament, the Russian president reported that the last stretch of the power linkup with Crimea will be launched in early May. Then the Russian leader explained that there were plans to launch the stretch even earlier, but bad weather prevented the work from being carried out in time.

After Crimea became part of Russia in 2014, it kept importing most part of the electric energy from Ukraine. In late 2015, over 2 million Crimean residents were left without electric power after Ukrainian activists started an energy blockade, blowing up the pylons of all four power transmission lines that supplied the peninsula with electricity.

The incident sped up work to ensure Crimea’s energy independence, which was launched in the summer of 2015.

The project envisions unification of the peninsula with Russia’s unified power grid. It included construction of several power transmission lines that will link the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant with the key regions of Crimea, in particular four lines in Crimea and two power transmission lines in southern Russia’s Rostov Region and Krasnodar Territory.