Ukraine bans freight transport with Crimea – RBC

Photo: RIA Novosti

The Cabinet of Ministers at an extraordinary meeting decided to temporarily ban all freight traffic in the Crimea. At the same time Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk instructed to prepare a specific list of goods that are in the future still be able to Crimea.

«To this list of products consistent with the interests of Ukraine in the first place propose attract Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to ensure that the decision to consider the interests, including our brotherly Crimean Tatar people, “- said Yatsenyuk.

Earlier today President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko sent Arseniy Yatsenyuk letter in which he asked the head of the country’s government immediately to stop cargo road and rail links with the Crimea and to create a working group for a “comprehensive review” of consequences of cargo from Ukraine to Crimea and back. According to Poroshenko, the definition of a model for future relations between Ukraine and the Crimea was “one of the priorities of state power” in a significant escalation of the situation around the region.

Ukrainian activists began a blockade of the Crimea on 20 September. One of the initiators of the food blockade of Crimea, Verkhovna Rada Refat Chubarov said then that it would be open-ended, explaining that no truck with goods for the Crimea across the border will not work.

According to the Moscow International Trade Centre (ITC ), based on customs statistics, in the first 8 months of 2015 the total volume of imports of products in the Crimea amounted to only $ 30.4 million, of which Ukrainian – $ 21.1 million. Most of these goods Ukrainian suppliers have delivered shortly before the blockade – in the summer months. These were mainly animal feed, wine and wine materials, crop production, and eggs. The share of imports in retail trade turnover of the republic is minimal – in January-August, according to Krymstata, turnover amounted to 116.4 billion rubles. (about $ 2 billion at the average exchange rate of the dollar during this period).

Later, due to the undermining of the unknown transmission towers were discontinued power supply from the Crimea in Ukraine. According to the Russian Energy Ministry, remained without electricity for 1.9 million people in the Crimea.

The representative of “Ukrenergo” RBC said today that the repair of power transmission lines in the Kherson region will begin only after negotiations with the organizers of the blockade of the Crimea, which blocked access to the damaged supports.

The commander of the headquarters of “Public blockade of Crimea” Lenur Islyamov the TV channel “112 Ukraine” on Monday morning said that repairers be allowed to elektrooporam in the Kherson region only after will be released the activists who tried stop repairing power lines.