UKRAINIAN nationalist saboteurs blew up transformers and cut power lines to Crimea on November 21st in an attempt to punish Russia for annexing the peninsula last year. Crimea relies on Ukraine for nearly all its electricity, and most of its 2m residents have been plunged into darkness, dependent on emergency generators and candles.
The blackout is the work of Crimea’s Tatar minority, who mainly opposed annexation, and Right Sector, a far-right Ukrainian nationalist group. The two groups have been trying to blockade Crimea since late September. “We cannot feed the bandits who mistreat our compatriots in the occupied territories,” says Mustafa Dzhemilev, the Tatars’ historic leader. (Of course their compatriots suffer from the blockade, too.) Mr Dzhemilev demands the release of political prisoners in Russia, a concession Russia is unlikely to grant.
Ukraine’s government seems incapable of fixing the power lines. A national guard unit sent to secure them for repairs pulled back after clashing with balaclava-clad activists. Unable to disperse the protesters and wary of seeming sympathetic to Russia, the authorities have halted trade with…