Ukraine to suspend trade with Crimea: PM

Kiev will suspend its trade ties with Crimea starting from mid-January, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk announced here on Wednesday.

"The supplies of works, goods and services, except socially important foodstuff and humanitarian aid, will be halted," Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting.

The decision on whether to supply electricity to Crimea will be adopted later by the country's National Security and Defense Council, Yatsenyuk said.

The Ukrainian government's latest move was another step in a series of restrictions imposed by Ukraine on Crimea in recent weeks.

In late November, the cabinet suspended cargo traffic to Crimea citing "escalation of tensions" between Crimean public activists and the authorities of the peninsula.

The activists from the Crimean Tatar community and members of Ukrainian nationalist movements blocked trucks from entering the peninsula and prevented the authorities from restoring electricity after explosions damaged power lines located in Ukraine's southern Kherson region.

The autonomous republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol were affiliated with Russia in March 2014 following a referendum recognized by Moscow, which Kiev rejected, saying it was unconstitutional.

According to the Ukrainian statistics, in the first half of 2015, Ukraine exported 472.1 million U.S. dollars worth of products to Crimea, while the value of its imports from the peninsula stood at 18.1 million dollars. Endi