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Russia-Ukraine tension mounts again, Crimean Tatars in the midst
Sabotage leaves Crimea in energy blackout, Moscow strikes back by cutting gas supplies to Ukraine · Crimean Tatar leader had asked Ukrainian authorities to unplug Crimea as means of protest against discrimination of Tatars by Russia
The Russian Ministry of Energy had yesterday warned it would be considering cuts in gas and coal supplies to Ukraine if the Ukrainian authorities did not rebuild the power lines.
Regarding the Friday events, the Ukrainian state-owned electricity company Ukrenergo released pictures of one electric pylon having been sabotaged and wrapped in the blue-and-yellow Crimean Tatar flag.
No organization or individual has claimed responsibility for the sabotage. The Ukrainian government denied it had nothing to do with it, and announced an investigation is underway to find out who the attackers were.
Crimean Tatars are a Turkic-speaking and Muslim people native to Crimea. Before the Russian occupation, they made up some 13% of the peninsula's population, and most of them were hostile to Russian annexation.
Crimea declared independence from Ukraine in 2014, and shortly afterward it joined the Russian Federation. However, Ukraine continues to be Crimea's main electricity supplier.
The current pro-Russian Crimean authorities have declared a state of emergency after the blackout. Head of Crimean government Sergey Aksyonov declared he is convinced that the sabotage was okayed by the Ukrainian authorities.
Tatar activists and members of the Ukrainian nationalist, far-right Right Sector group started in September a blockade of motorways leading to Crimea. One of the blockade coordinators is a Crimean Tatar, Lenur Islyamov, who on November 12th said that blockers would stop patrolling the area where the electric pylons were found so that any "activist" wishing to lead a sabotage action there could do so. However, when the attack indeed occurred, Islyamov said the blockers had nothing to do with the action.
20 days ago, the leader of the Mejlis (executive council) of Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov, had asked the Ukrainian government to unplug Crimea from the Ukrainian grid as a means to exert pressure on Russia on the issue of rights of Tatars and Ukrainians in the peninsula. Tatar organizations and the OSCE have reported an intensification of discrimination against the Tatar people since Russia controls Crimea. Moscow denies such a problem is happening at all.
However, the historic leader of the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian MP Mustafa Qirimoglu (aka Mustafa Djemilev) yesterday announced that the damaged pylons would be rebuilt within three or four days, and he further said that Islyamov had been given orders not to prevent reparation works.