Poroshenko Says No More Power For Crimea Until Rejoins Ukraine
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine is prepared to restore electricity to Crimea after more than a month of severe outages, but only if the peninsula annexed by Russia rejoins Ukraine.
"We are ready to supply electricity to Crimea that is Ukrainian. You can have it if you want. If not, we'll wait until Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea is restored," he said on January 14 at his annual press conference.
Russia has refused to go along with Ukraine's conditions for renewing a contract that expired on January 1 to provide Crimea with electricity.
Poroshenko said Ukraine is prepared to "assure supplies of electricity," but the contract must stipulate that Crimea is an "autonomous republic" of Ukraine.
He insisted that Kyiv is doing what it can to "prevent more complications in the lives" of Crimeans, but pointed out that Crimean leaders themselves had declined to renew the power contract.
Residents of the peninsula have been experiencing chronic power shortages since the main lines carrying power from Ukraine were blown up on November 22.
A partial restoration of electricity during December came to a complete halt after another attack on the power facilities on December 30.
Based on reporting by RFE/RL and TASS
U.S., Russian Top Diplomats To Meet On Ukraine, Syria
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Zurich on January 19 to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
During a phone call on January 14, Lavrov and Kerry scheduled the meeting "on the instructions of the Russian and U.S. presidents" after Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama spoke by phone on January 13, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The top diplomats in their conversation "continued examining ways to resolve the Syrian crisis and the conflict in Ukraine," the ministry said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed the meeting and said the U.S. side had raised concerns about Russia's tactics in the conflict in Syria.
"The secretary again expressed his concern -- deep concern -- over attacks on civilians by Russian and regime military forces," he said.
Kerry called on Russia to pressure its Syrian allies into allowing "humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, particularly in besieged and hard-to-reach places."
In their call, Putin and Obama discussed the effort "to bring about a political transition inside of Syria," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.