Scores of Russians die in big freeze

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Forty-one people have died of hypothermia in Moscow since early October, as power and heating cuts grip the eastern part of the country.

A cold wave in November, during which temperatures plunged to minus 16 Centigrade (3 Fahrenheit), claimed 28 lives, while another 13 died in October, according to the city's health department. Hundreds of people freeze to death in Russia every year. Officials say most are homeless people or those who pass out on the streets after drinking alcohol.

But the power cuts have prompted hundreds of enraged residents in Russia's Pacific coast region to block roads near the port of Vladivostok, creating vast traffic jams and disrupting the airport.

Protesters, mostly pensioners and children, snarled traffic for up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) on Friday morning on two thoroughfares.

Most complained of temperatures in apartments climbing no higher than six degrees Celsius (43 F).

"Mr President! Do Something!" read one placard in the village of Uglovoye. "No water, no heat, no salary. What next?" read another.

President Vladimir Putin has denounced the calamity as a "total disgrace."

He and other officials in Moscow, eight time zones to the west, blame the region's administrators for failing to prepare for what is known in Russian as "the heating season."

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said about 40,000 residents of the Primorye region remained without heating, with temperatures outside plunging to minus 27 Celsius (minus 17 Fahrenheit).

Television pictures have shown children bundled up in winter clothes in apartments, homemakers unable to thaw frozen food and enterprising residents rigging up makeshift heaters.

Local officials led by Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko say the central government's high tariffs for fuel and energy make it impossible to keep heating and electricity plants running.

The Finance Ministry this week made available credit lines of several million dollars to ease the crisis.

Protesters were clearly blaming local authorities. Slogans called for officials to remedy the situation or resign.

"No heat has come through the pipes since winter started," said Mikhail Katyshev, 55, a mechanic. "I plug in electric heaters and end up with an electricity bill three or four times higher than usual. How long can this go on?"

Police tried to restore traffic on roads leading to Khabarovsk, the largest city in Russia's far east, and the port of Nakhodka.

Flights at Vladivostok airport were delayed to allow passengers and mail to make their way through the jam.

Many drivers, though annoyed, said they sympathised with the protesters.

"I understand what they are doing," one truck driver told RTR state television. "We have power and heating cuts at home too."

Television said aviation industry workers in the town of Arsenye further north had also staged a protest to complain about their unheated homes.

Teachers were besieging a local administrative office to demand months of back pay.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

Power cuts plunge Georgia into darkness
November 18, 2000

The Government of the Russian Federation

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