Ukraine Cuts Power, Train and Bus Services to Crimea ... While Visa and Master Card Cease Operations

GOOD! Russia's problem now, Let Russia help them out financially ... Oh wait, Russia's economy is down the hopper as well ...

Ukraine cut off electricity as well as train and bus services to Crimea on Friday—moves that could raise tensions with Russia, which annexed the peninsula in March and has been prodding Kiev to negotiate with Russia-backed rebels in Ukraine’s eastern provinces. 

In this Oct. 26 file photo, a man walks past a mural on an 
apartment building depicting Russian President Vladimir 
Putin in a navy uniform with the Kremlin and a Russian 
flag in the background in Sevastopol, Crimea. AP

The power cutoff is the second this week by Ukraine, which says it has electricity shortages of its own because rebels have halted shipments of coal to its power plants. The canceling of train and bus services, however, could indicate Ukraine is increasing its pressure on the peninsula.

On Friday, Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. confirmed that they were suspending operations in Crimea to comply with the latest wave of U.S. sanctions that banned doing business on the peninsula. The European Union also imposed Crimea-specific sanctions this month.

All of these moves signify the increasing economic isolation of Crimea as both Kiev and the West seek to penalize the peninsula’s separatist authorities and their patrons in Moscow. The moves will likely push Crimea into a greater dependence on the Russian federal budget, which has already incurred significant costs from the annexation.

As Kiev raises pressure on Crimean separatists in the south,
 prisoners of war await transport from the eastern separatist 
area near Donetsk. European Pressphoto Agency

In closing transport services, Ukrainian officials cited safety concerns. Passenger and cargo train service, both foreign and Ukrainian, would be halted to the peninsula “to ensure the safety of passengers,” said Ukraine’s state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia. Ukrainian security services issued a statement saying that bus service also was being halted to protect passengers and cited threats of “armed groups, extremist parties and the military aggression of the Russian Federation.”

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