Reuters, 24/11 17:31 CET
By Andrew Osborn and Pavel Polityuk
MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – Russia
said on Tuesday it would cut off gas supplies to Ukraine and threatened
to halt coal deliveries, ratcheting up a dispute over a power blackout
in Crimea at a time when a ceasefire between Kiev and separatist rebels
is fraying.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak accused the
Ukrainian authorities of deliberately refusing to help rebuild power
lines to Russia-annexed Crimea, which were blown up by unknown saboteurs
over the weekend.
The peninsula of 2 million people is relying on emergency
generators to meet its basic power needs, with pro-Ukrainian activists,
including nationalist battalions and ethnic Tatars, preventing repairs.
The Ukrainian government dismissed as “absolutely
groundless” suggestions, made by two Ukrainian lawmakers to Reuters,
that Kiev might be tacitly backing the activists.
The row could fan tensions between Ukraine and
pro-Russian fighters in the east, where a recent spike in ceasefire
violations is threatening to shatter a truce after two months of
relative calm.
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Source: Euronews
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