"It is another very important decision for Crimea's long-term development. I mean, the gas supplies via trunkline to Crimean peninsula will enable us to create an absolutely new environment in terms of the development of the whole economic and social sphere of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," Putin said via video conference at the ceremony of launching 248.5-mile Dzhankoy-Feodosiya-Kerch gas pipeline connecting mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula.
The Russian president added that two power plants able to satisfy demands of the peninsula will be built in 2017-2018, as well as over 40 miles of trunkline pipeline, over 1,500 miles of inter-settlement pipelines and eight gas compressor stations.
Crimea seceded from Ukraine and reunified with Russia in March 2014, when more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum. Kiev, as well as the European Union, the United States and their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.
In November 2015, the peninsula was left without power after all power lines were intentionally disabled in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
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