Here's another item from the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Massive Power Outages Hit Crimea, Cause Unclear
Residents of Crimea say that widespread power outages have hit the Russian-controlled Black Sea peninsula.
Shopping centers were dark and trolleybuses stood still in Simferopol, which appeared to be entirely without electricity at about 4 p.m. local time on June 13.
There were also outages in other cities including Yalta and Simferopol, the home of a Russian Black Sea Fleet base.
Russian newspaper Vedomosti cited a resident of another town, Sudak, as saying that there was no electricity there and reporting problems with cell-phone service, and Novaya Gazeta said there were also outages in Yevpatoria.
Authorities in the Russian-held Ukrainian region said that power would be restored within hours.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the outages.
Russia seized control of Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops, taking over key facilities, and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries at the United Nations.
Supplies of electricity to Crimea were curtailed when two high-voltage transmission towers near the isthmus linking the peninsula to the rest of Ukraine were destroyed in November 2015.
Russia laid new transmission cables across the Kerch Strait to Crimea in 2016 but has continued to face problems meeting power needs of the region, which has a population of about 2 million.
With reporting by Vedomosti and Novaya Gazeta
Here's a new feature by RFE/RL's Aan Crosby and Christopher Miller:
In Kyiv, Trying To Fill Lenin's Shoes With A Bitcoin Hero
KYIV -- Move over Lenin, there's a new kid on the blockchain.
An initiative to erect a monument of Satoshi Nakamoto in Ukraine's capital is gaining momentum.
The idea is to place the statue right where a red Karelian stone figure of the Soviet Union's founder, Vladimir Lenin, stood before it was toppled amid Euromaidan unrest more than four years ago. The project would be the first of its kind and is part of a global campaign to honor Satoshi -- the unknown, presumed creator of bitcoin and blockchain technology -- around the world.
"We are engaging in the construction of monuments to the great man who for everyone is a new symbol of freedom," said Andriy Moroz, the Ukrainian co-founder of a group dedicated to erecting monuments to Nakamoto.
"The monument to Lenin was a symbol of last centuries that had already passed, leaving conflicting feelings in the hearts of people. Satoshi and the decentralization of society are a new era and new opportunities," he argued.
True to its cyberroots, the first stage of the process is to create a digital Satoshi statue that would be visible through a smartphone app to be created by Raccoon World, a robotics and virtual reality company.
The app would use a plinth placed at the site to show a virtual statue when a smartphone or similar device such as a computer tablet are directed at it, Pokemon Go-style.
A group called the Satoshi Nakamoto Republic, which is spearheading the campaign, said it plans to file a petition and apply for permission from Kyiv city officials to erect an actual statue at the site.
"In case the permission for the monument installation will be received, it will be erected in Kyiv, on boulevard Shevchenko, on the site of the monument to Lenin," the group said in a statement.
"In case the petition will be declined, the monument to Satoshi Nakamoto will be erected on another location. Now there is a wave of interest on the part of business to erect the monument on one of the territories of the contemporary technological business centers of Kyiv," it added.
Bitcoin Boom
Ukraine has become swept up in the cryptocurrency world, with the bitcoin and blockchain industry growing exponentially even as the virtual currency takes a battering this year over security and hacking fears, electricity rates, a drop in transactions, and plain old skepticism.
With average monthly wages of around $250 and cryptocurrencies drawing record acceptance from retailers and relatively mild rebukes from regulators, many Ukrainians have raced to set up bitcoin mining operations where analysts say they can make as much as 10 times that.
Cryptocurrency mining involves using powerful computers to run software for days and weeks on end to complete complicated calculations to help maintain a distributed ledger of transactions recorded in blockchain -- groups of transactions recorded in blocks that are in turn linked to each other to form a chain.
Miners who confirm transactions are rewarded with transaction fees.
The flurry of activity has pushed Ukraine's government, concerned that digital assets may be exploited by criminals and could present a growing national security risk, to create a working group to draft regulations for the industry.
The campaign for a Nakamoto monument got a boost last month when Ukrainian entrepreneur Aleksandr Soroka, creator of Startup Network, an investment platform where entrepreneurs find private investors, donated 1 bitcoin to support the initiative (worth around $6,750 on June 12).
He says that Ukrainians are excited about blockchain technology and the country has a lot of "proactive" people who can build an industry around it.
"But first they need help from parliament and support from people in government, and they aren't getting a whole lot of that right now," Soroka, who became a "Crypto-Angel of Kyiv" with the donation, added.
The regulations can't come quick enough, given the acceleration of the cryptocurrency industry.
Kyiv-based National Credit Bank has created a nationwide network of almost 5,000 payment terminals, called BNK-ATMs, to give easy access to customers looking to buy bitcoin for cash.
The terminals also enable users to pay household bills such as utilities with bitcoin.
Bank officials say they established the network because of growing demand by Ukrainians for a cheaper, safer, and more convenient payment system, especially with regard to overseas e-commerce transactions.
Russia Says New NATO Combat Readiness Plan A Threat To Security
By RFE/RL
Russia says that a new NATO plan to enhance its combat readiness in Europe would weaken security on the continent, and is warning that Moscow would take that into account in its own military planning.
Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko criticized the initiative known as Four Thirties in comments on June 13. He said that Russia would take all necessary military measures to guarantee its own security.
The initiative "creates a threat to European security," Grushko told journalists.
Four Thirties, which was supported by NATO defense ministers on June 7, is meant to protect allies against what NATO says are increased threats from Russia and to bolster combat readiness by easing the transport of troops across Europe in the event of a crisis.
The plan, whose full details were not revealed, provides for the deployment of 30 troop battalions, 30 squadrons of aircraft, and 30 warships within 30 days. The plan is set to become operational in 2020.
Thousands of NATO troops are already stationed on standby in the Baltic states and Poland as a deterrent, and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stressed on June 7 that the goals of Four Thirties are increased coordination and better mobility.
"This is not about setting up or deploying new forces. It is about boosting the readiness of existing forces across each and every ally," Stoltenberg said.
"This is about establishing a culture of readiness and we need that because we have a more unpredictable security environment. We have to be prepared for the unforeseen," he said.
Grushko said that Russia’s “views on the preparations made by the alliance on the eastern flank are well-known. We are acting based on the assumption that it substantially worsens military security in Europe."
Asked whether Russia will factor Four Thirties into its own military planning, Grushko told journalists, "Without a doubt, we will take it into account."
"If the need arises, we will take all military-technical measures that will guarantee our security and defense capability," said Grushko, who is a former ambassador to NATO.
With reporting by Interfax, TASS, and Reuters
Norway Asks For Doubling Of U.S. Troops, Deployed Closer To Russia
By RFE/RL
Norway will ask the United States to more than double the number of U.S. Marines stationed in the country in a move that could raise tensions with neighboring Russia, top ministers have said.
The move announced by Oslo's foreign and defense ministers on June 12 comes amid increasing wariness among nations bordering Russia after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014.
Nine nations along NATO's eastern flank last week called for an increased presence by the military alliance in their region amid concerns about Russian aggression.
Some 330 U.S. Marines currently are scheduled to leave Norway at the end of this year after an initial contingent arrived in January 2017 to train for fighting in winter conditions. They were the first foreign troops to be stationed in Norway, a member of NATO, since World War II.
The initial decision to welcome the Marines last year irked Russia, with Moscow warning that it would worsen bilateral relations with Oslo and escalate tensions on NATO's northern flank.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide told reporters on June 12 that the decision to increase the U.S. presence has broad support in parliament and does not constitute the establishment of a permanent U.S. base in Norway.
Oslo will ask Washington to send 700 Marines starting next year, she said, with the additional troops to be based closer to the border with Russia in the Inner Troms region in the Norwegian Arctic, about 420 kilometers from Russia, rather than in central Norway.
"There will still be a respectful distance with the Russian border," Soereide said. "We can't see any serious reason why Russia should react, even if we expect it will again this time since it always does about the allied exercises and training."
The Russian Embassy in Oslo was not available for comment.
To ease Moscow's concerns, before becoming a founder member of NATO in 1949, Oslo said it would not station foreign troops on its soil unless it was under threat of attack.
The ministers said Norway still abides by that commitment and claimed that the new U.S. troop presence would be "rotational," not permanent.
The new troops will be rotated in for five-year periods, they said, while the posting of U.S. troops in Norway since last year was only for six-month intervals that were extended repeatedly.
Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told reporters in Oslo that the expanded military force in the country is intended to improve the training and winter fighting capability of NATO troops.
"The defense of Norway depends on the support of our NATO allies, as is the case in most other NATO countries," he said. "For this support to work in times of crises and war, we are are totally dependent on joint training and exercises in times of peace."
In addition to posting more troops in Norway, the ministers said the United States has expressed interest in building infrastructure to accommodate up to four U.S. fighter jets at a base 65 kilometers south of Oslo, as part of a European deterrence initiative launched after Crimea's annexation.