ROSTOV-ON-DON. March 4 (Interfax) - The Arbitration Court of Crimea has registered a claim against Ukraine for compensation of over 3.156 trillion rubles in damage done to the Crimean budget by the energy blockade, Crimean State Council Secretary Vladimir Konstantinov said.
"For us, this is a highly significant event, a serious result of our work," Konstantinov said on Telegram.
The Crimean authorities will continue to formulate claims against Ukraine and Western countries, he said.
"We will do everything to bring this work to a logical conclusion and will fully estimate the damage, down to a kopeck," Konstantinov said.
As reported, the Ukrainian government, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry and the Ukrenergo national energy company are designated as respondents in the case.
The supports for all high-voltage power transmission lines to Crimea were blown up in the Kherson region in the early hours of November 22, 2015, cutting the power supply to the peninsula. Russia started building an energy bridge from Krasnodar Territory to Crimea. It commenced operation at full capacity in May 2016.
Later, the Tavricheskaya and Balaklavskaya thermal power plants with an overall capacity of 920MW were built in Crimea. The project, together available generating facilities and the energy bridge, helped fully cover the peninsula's demand for power.
At the end of October 2023, the Arbitration Court of Crimea granted the Crimean government's claim against Ukraine for 152.6 billion rubles in compensation for the damage done by the water blockade. The Crimean Council of Ministers was the claimant, and the Ukrainian Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ministry, the Ukrainian State Agency of Water Resources and the North Crimean Canal administration were the respondents.
The water blockade of Crimea began in spring 2014 with the blocking of the North Crimean Canal dam in the Kherson region. Russian troops ended the blockade in February 2022, after the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine. The canal again stopped supplying water after the Kakhovka Hydropower Plant's dam collapsed in June 2023.