PODOLSK A row of orange cars from the gas plant’s repair service stood in front of a five-story building in the darkening winter landscape.
On Tuesday, the weather had already cooled down from the cold period at the turn of the year, but the repairs of the traces left by the frost continued day and night in Klimovski, a suburb of the city of Podolsk in the Moscow region.
When an accident occurred at the Klimovski heating plant at the beginning of January, heating was cut off from more than 170 apartment buildings, for more than 20,000 residents. In addition, pipes froze and cracked in many buildings. Due to broken pipes, many residents were still without heat on Tuesday, even though the heating network had been mostly repaired.
In various parts of Russia, several cities have seen large-scale problems in the heating networks on both sides of the turn of the year. In Novosibirsk, Siberia, five people suffered burns on Wednesday when a heating pipe burst and spewed hot water tens of meters high.
The residents we met on the streets of Podolsk did not like to talk to foreign media, especially in front of the camera and by name.
The man we met at the central square of Klimovski updated us that the situation is like the blockade of Leningrad during the Second World War.
The man said that free food was distributed to residents in the square in the morning. People collected hotdogs for the repair crews.
The man snapped that we don’t need hotdogs here, but a repair of the entire system. He said that during the repair works, pipes have been unearthed since 1965. The man praised the Soviet-era pipes: they lasted a long time and the new ones have not been the same.
The frosts at the turn of the year were harsh, but they cannot be considered exceptional in Russia’s conditions. The frosts only revealed how badly the authorities have allowed the municipal infrastructure inherited from the Soviet Union, from the 1960s to the 1970s, to deteriorate.
Figures from the Russian Statistical Office by 44.2 percent of the infrastructure has already exceeded its useful life.
More and more building stock has just been connected to decaying heating networks. At the same time, the low pay and dull working conditions of maintenance jobs in the public sector do not attract enough skilled labor to the field.
Governor: the situation was covered up
On the morning of the fourth day of January, the residents of Klimovski woke up to the fact that there was no heating or hot water in the apartments. The ordeal lasted more than a week.
– Because everyone turned on the heaters, very often the electricity went out, a resident of Klimovski Natalja Taubina told by phone.
– Many of my acquaintances used gas for heating from morning to night. Well, you can’t leave it unattended overnight. They slept with two or three blankets.
The problems that started with the accident at the heating plant piled up when the pipes in the stairwells and basements of the buildings without heating froze and cracked. Additional forces were called in from Moscow for the repair work. Natalja Taubina thanked that the work brigades worked efficiently and worked through the night.
On social media, the heating problems and the weak state of the heating network aroused fury.
When the authorities reacted slowly, the citizens themselves became active.
– There were many volunteers who distributed clothes, heaters and blankets, Natalja Taubina says.
The residents of the neighboring area and the houses where the heating worked invited those without heating to their homes to warm up, eat, and take a shower.
– There is such unification and mutual help, readiness to help, says Natalja Taubina.
As the situation continued, local small businesses started distributing heaters to residents. At first, nothing was heard from the governor of the Moscow region.
Governor Andrei Vorobyov later explained that the situation had been kept from him for days.
– It seems strange to me, because already on the 4th day all the local social media channels were full of reports that such an accident had happened and it was serious, Natalja Taubina wondered.
Heating problems continue elsewhere
Living in Shepchinki, Podolsk district Tatevik said that the heating in his residential area has been on and off since December 25.
– We are at home in felt slippers, warm woolen coats. The children sleep in wool sweaters because it is very cold in the prefab houses, Tatevik said.
– We have not received an answer from the hosting company as to why this is so.
At the intersection, a man met me with a long drill bit. Sergei said that a fire broke out in his apartment when the electrical wires could not withstand the load required by the electric heater.
Sergei stated that the wages of a local electrician cannot support a family with children. The lack of labor is one thing that hinders the maintenance of municipal infrastructure.
Sergei is an electrician himself and works in Moscow, but now he had to stay at home to renovate the apartment after the fire. What help? He has four children and they cannot stay in heaven.
The official activity did not receive praise from Sergei. When the governor came there, tents were set up in the center where sausages were distributed. When the governor left, the tents were removed, Sergei said.
It is unfortunate for the regional authorities that the problems surfaced just when everything should be going smoothly before this year’s big political show. Vladimir Putin is set to secure yet another term in office in the March elections.
You can’t talk about real political competition in the elections, but the elections are still a great test of strength for those in power – they have to show that the people stand as one man behind the president.
Heating problems are something that can concretely bring citizens to the streets to protest.
It is no wonder that the Kremlin reacted to Klimovsky’s situation. Putin ordered Governor Vorobyov to nationalize the cartridge factory responsible for the heating plant.
The deputy director of the Podolsk city administration, the general manager of the cartridge factory and the supervisor of the heating plant have been imprisoned because of the accident.
The heating interruptions are embarrassing for the Russian leadership to the extent that the state television channels are happy to report that the residents of Europe are freezing in the cold without Russian energy.