Water shortages in occupied Crimea now so great Moscow likely to step up pressure on Kyiv, Kazarin says.

The North-Crimean Canal that supplied Ukraine’s Crimea with most of freshwater it needed from 1975 up until the early months of the Russian occupation in 2014.

Vladimir Putin has played down the problems arising from water shortages in Russian occupied Crimea, but they are so critical not only for sustaining the lives of the people there but for agricultural and industrial development that Moscow has little choice but to put more pressure on Kyiv to release water to Crimea, Pavlo Kazarin says.

The Ukrainian commentator says that Russian talk about building desalinization plants will lead nowhere. Such plants are expensive, can’t make up for the loss of water from the mainland, and worse result in salt byproducts that are hard to dispose of.

Read also: Russian-occupied Crimea running out of water despite snowy weather – with Moscow still searching for way out

Consequently, he argues, Moscow will be forced to put more pressure on Kyiv in the hopes that the Ukrainian authorities will release enough water for Kyiv to avert a humanitarian and economic disaster. Obviously, Ukraine is reluctant to do anything to ease the plight of the occupying authorities but it can’t ignore that of the Ukrainian people living under Russian rule.

The Kremlin will undoubtedly continue to use diplomatic and media campaigns to try to get Ukraine to change course on this issue. Indeed, it is already doing so. But as conditions deteriorate this spring and summer, Moscow may conclude it has no choice but to adopt even tougher methods.

Taihan reservoir shallowing in Russian-occupied Crimea, November 2019

Dry Crimean landscape near the almost completely empty Bakhchysarai Water Reservoir. Photo shared by the Twitter user RoksolanaToday&КрымUA (@KrimRt on Twitter), a popular Crimean blogger, in December 2020.

Dry bed of the North-Crimean Canal. Source: pravda.com.ua

The water volume of the Simferopol Reservoir shrank to one tenth of its normal size (Image: znak.com)

The dry bed of the Ayan Water Reservoir that supplied Simferopol, Crimea’s second-largest city with population over 300,000. December 2020. (Source: RoksolanaToday&КрымUA @KrimRt on Twitter)

The dry bed of the Ayan Water Reservoir that supplied Simferopol, Crimea’s second-largest city with population over 300,000. December 2020. (Source: RoksolanaToday&КрымUA @KrimRt on Twitter)

Empty Zahirske Reservoir in Russian-occupied Crimea, January 2021. Photo: TASS via RFE/RL

One of those, although Kazarin does not mention it in this case, would involve a military move to seize water supplies in southeastern Ukraine, a possibility that Kyiv is already preparing for but one that is all too real, especially as Moscow can be counted on to blame any further aggression by Russian forces on Ukraine for not releasing water.

The danger of that will only increase, given just how bad the water situation now is in Crimea, especially with regard to potable water. In many cases, the water the Russian occupiers are releasing to people under their control is already clearly inadequate both in amount and quality.

Further reading:

• Russian-occupied Crimea running out of water despite snowy weather – with Moscow still searching for way out
• Occupied Crimea not only part of Ukraine suffering from water shortages, Balabukh says
• Putin claims mounting crisis in occupied Crimea can be reversed by fresh water supplies under Azov Sea
• Crimeans have tap water only six hours a day as all Russian attempts to hydrate occupied peninsula fail
• Unprecedented drought hits Russian-occupied Crimea
• Could Ukraine have fought off Crimean occupation? A crucial document you should know
• Russia’s replacement of population in occupied Crimea violates Geneva Convention – UN report
• Critical water shortage in Crimea may prompt new Russian attack against Ukraine
• Russia can’t solve Crimea’s water problem
• The risk of water shortage and implications for Ukraine’s security
• Documentary “Crimea. As it Was” shows the very beginning of Russia’s occupation of the peninsula
• Crimean history. What you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask

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