In Russia, thousands of people are currently affected by storms and heating failures. In Novosibirsk, thousands of liters of water poured into the street from a ruptured district heating pipe, leaving hundreds of apartments without heat.
Frost and outdated pipes are currently causing district heating, water and electricity outages in many Russian cities. According to Russian media, tens of thousands of people were affected. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, one of the main district heating pipes broke on Thursday, as local media “Sibirski Express” reported.
Hot water and heating failed in more than 100 homes and twelve other buildings. Hot water from the district heating pipe spilled onto a main road in 15-degree frost.
According to a report by the portal rosteplo.ru, 3,000 people were left without heating in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok on Wednesday. In the nearby town of Nakhodka there were 6,000 people. Disturbances have also been reported in the cities of Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Saratov and Penza in recent days. In St. Petersburg, a rupture in a district heating pipe must be repaired by Thursday morning, authorities said.
Deputy Administrative Director of Podolsk arrested
The deputy head of the administration of the neighboring city of Podolsk, Roman Ryazantsev, was detained in Moscow on Wednesday, the responsible court announced. In Podolsk, the thermal power plant of a munitions factory, which also supplies power to more than 170 high-rise buildings, failed on 4 January. Around 20,000 people were affected by the outage. In this case, even President Vladimir Putin intervened and ordered supplies to be quickly restored. The cartridge factory was quickly nationalized. There are also problems with heat supply in other cities in the Moscow region.
Politically, the heat supply disruptions are a nuisance for Putin, who is seeking re-election for a fifth term in March. In some cities, affected citizens protested. In the town of Elektrostal, near Moscow, where some houses apparently have not been heated since mid-December, people warm themselves by bonfires in the streets.
In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is trying to disrupt the neighboring country's energy supply by launching rockets. Last winter, electricity, heating, gas and water frequently failed in Kiev and other cities. Despite the attacks, fewer outages are being reported in Ukraine this winter. (APA/dpa)