Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenuk demanded an explanation from Ukraine's Minister of Energy for the electricity sales contract signed between Russian and Ukrainian companies. Denoting Crimea as "the Crimean Federal District of the Russian Federation" in the contract was viewed as an acceptance of Russian sovereignty of Crimea.

"The one-year contract comes into force on Dec. 30, 2014, and stipulates scheduled deliveries in equal amounts of up to 1,500 megawatts," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying in a statement. Ukraine's struggle with energy shortages makes the country vulnerable and dependent on Russia. Russia exerts its authority and power through gas and electricity deals with the Ukrainian government.

Apart from the vociferous response of the international community to the Crimea referendum asserting its illegality contravened international law on territorial integrity, the Crimean Tatar population, which is 12 percent of Crimea's largely ethnic Russian population of about 2 million, have been highly critical of Moscow's annexation of the peninsula that was previously part of Ukraine. It has been noted that many Crimean Tatars rued the result of the referendum when local authorities announced that 97 percent of those who voted were in favor of joining Russia.

Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia, many Crimean Tatars have been feeling insecure due to the possible return of Stalinist-type repression despite official promises to respect their rights and freedoms. The second all-Crimean conference on the protection of Crimean Tatar rights was held on Jan. 19 to stress the dire need of ensuring security for Crimean Tatars under Russian rule. Addressing Ukrainian authorities, Crimean Tatar activists underscored the need of "granting third party status in Ukrainian-Russian relations to the Crimean Tatar people and providing [Crimean Tatar] national self-governmental agencies with the right to appeal to international judicial authorities," according to the Ukrainian news agency Interfax.