Russia to launch two new power plants in annexed Crimea during Putin's visit
The Russian engineering company Technopromexport plans to officially launch new power plants in the Crimea on March 18 during the planned visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported, citing information from its five different sources.
Putin plans to visit the Crimea on the anniversary of its annexation. He also plans to attend the opening of the Sevastopol power plant, the sources reported. “During the closed meeting, the Governor [ of Sevastopol] stated that Putin will arrive on March 18 in Sevastopol to open the Balaklava Thermal Power Plant,” the source in the Parliament of Sevastopol said.
Both power plants will be opened during Putin's visit. The President plans to be present at the opening of one of them, another source stated. The launch of the power plants of the second stage that will operate at full capacity is also planned, stated another source familiar with the launch plans. Technopromexport refused to comment on the information. The Russian Ministry of Energy and the Kremlin have not yet confirmed the information.
Ukraine cut off electricity to the Crimea in 2014. Russia started the construction of two 940-megawatt power plants on the annexed peninsula valued at $1.1 million. The first power units were launched in October 2018.
At the time, a scandal with the supplies of gas turbines for thermal power plants broke out. German conglomerate Siemens AG stated that Russia installed four turbines produced by German company on these power plants, bypassing European sanctions. This led to judicial proceedings and new EU and US sanctions against Russia.