Expert: Siemens will boycott maintenance of its turbines in the Crimea
The Siemens company will boycott maintenance of the turbines that have been delivered to the Crimea; it is currently unclear how these turbines will operate without professional service. Russian economic analyst and oil and gas market expert Mikhail Krutikhin, who is a partner in the information and consulting agency RusEnergy, voiced this view on the radio show “Day Show” on Radio Krym.Realii.
He added that Russia is unlikely to submit to Siemens' demand for the return of the turbines from the Crimea.
"I cannot believe that they (the Siemens company) did not know about the fate of these turbines. Russian and European media warned that they would be sent to the peninsula. This is a big screw-up by Siemens; now they are putting on a good front, but it seems to me that the Russian side will not give them any turbines. This will be a problem: the operation of the turbines must be controlled by Siemens management tools software ... For now, it's a mystery if they will be able to function in conditions when Siemens will boycott this work," said Krutikhin.
The scandal regarding the supply of Siemens turbines to the Crimea broke out in June 2017. Russia denied delivery of company's turbines in the Crimea, but Siemens recognized the equipment as its own.
The current Russian Minister of Energy, Alexander Novak, said on July 10 that thermal power plants would be built in the Crimea, even if Siemens withdrew the turbines that were delivered to the peninsula.
Earlier, the Siemens Gas Turbine Company filed its own suit with the Moscow Arbitration Court against two Rostec subsidiaries, demanding that the contract with Tekhnopromexport be invalidated and that the property illegally possessed by Rostec’s structures be returned back. Consideration of this claim is scheduled for October 20.
In the Russian-annexed Crimea, blackouts continue despite the launch of a third line of the Russian energy bridge in the spring of 2016. Since December 2015, the Crimea has ceased to receive electricity from the mainland of Ukraine because of damage to the electric mount in the Kherson region. The Crimea is currently supplied by own energy generation, generator sets and the energy bridge from Russian Kuban.