Russia boosts power supplies to annexed Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 17, 2016. REUTERS/Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik/Kremlin

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the launch of a fourth and final line supplying electricity from Russia to Crimea on Wednesday, saying the project had broken an energy blockage he accused Kiev of imposing on the peninsula.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Moscow has since faced international condemnation and the logistical challenges of sustaining a region that depended on Ukraine for much of its supplies and has no land border with Russia.