Insight - Russia-annexed Crimea faces long road to power security

A customer visits a grocery lit with candles due to a power cut, in Simferopol, Crimea, in this November 22, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Pavel Rebrov/Files

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin is trying to reassure residents of Crimea, left in the dark after electricity supplies from Ukraine were cut off, that it is coming to their rescue by installing a power link with Russia.

But the reality is that it will take many months of complex engineering before Russia can provide Crimea with a secure electricity supply, while Western sanctions over the peninsula's annexation have made it more difficult to buy the best equipment for the job.