Russian cities battle heating outages as temps drop below freezing

DPA
·2 min read
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A heating controller on stands level 2. Tens of thousands of people in Russia are affected by a lack of heating, water or electricity, according to Russian media reports, after frost and outdated pipes are causing outages in many cities amidst below freezing temperatures. Hannes P. Albert/dpa
A heating controller on stands level 2. Tens of thousands of people in Russia are affected by a lack of heating, water or electricity, according to Russian media reports, after frost and outdated pipes are causing outages in many cities amidst below freezing temperatures. Hannes P. Albert/dpa

Tens of thousands of people in Russia are affected by a lack of heating, water or electricity, according to Russian media reports, after frost and outdated pipes are causing outages in many cities amidst below freezing temperatures.

A main district heating pipe in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk busted on Thursday, the local media outlet Siberian Express reported.

Hot water and heating failed in more than 100 homes and 12 other buildings, while the hot water from the district heating pipe poured down a main road at minus 15 degrees Celsius.

A survey by the rosteplo.ru website showed that 3,000 people in the harbour city of Vladivostok on the Pacific were without heating on Wednesday.

In the nearby city of Nakhodka, 6,000 people were without heating, while disruptions in the cities of Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Saratov and Penza in recent days were also reported.

In St Petersburg, the rupture in a district heating pipe should be repaired by Thursday morning, according to the authorities.

In Podolsk, a city near Moscow, the heating plant of an ammunitions factory, which also supplies over 170 high-rise buildings, broke down on January 4. The town's deputy head of administration, Roman Ryazantsev, was taken into custody on Wednesday, according to the court there. About 20,000 people were affected.

This time Russian President Vladimir Putin intervened and ordered a rapid restoration of the heating supply and nationalized the ammunitions factory. Other cities in the Moscow region are also facing heating problems.

Politically, the heating supply failures are a set back for Putin, who is seeking re-election for a fifth term in March.

Affected citizens protested in some cities. In the town of Elektrostal near Moscow, some houses had allegedly not been heated since mid-December, while people are keeping warm by open fires on the street.

In its war of against Ukraine, Russia is attempting to damage the neighbouring country's energy supply by firing missiles at it, while last winter this resulted in electricity, heating, gas and water often failing in Kiev and other cities.

This winter, fewer outages are being reported in Ukraine despite the attacks.