Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the nationalization of an ammunition plant in Moscow after a mechanical failure caused tens of thousands of Muscovites to lose heat and water amid freezing temperatures beginning last week.
On January 4, a heating main burst at the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant in the town of Podolsk, which is around 30 miles south of central Moscow. Since then, tens of thousands of Russians are reported to have no heating in their homes in the Moscow region amid subzero temperatures.
Affected areas include the cities of Khimki, Balashikha, Lobnya, Lyubertsy, Podolsk, Chekhov, Naro-Fominsk, and Podolsk, a map published by a Russian Telegram channel and shared on other social media sites shows.
⚡️Map of European cities where people complain about the lack of heating and electricity due to the restriction of #ruZZian energy supplies 😆😆😆😆😆 pic.twitter.com/o0kldiLwiy
— Aurora Borealis 🤫 (@aborealis940) January 8, 2024
Other Russian media outlets reported that in Moscow, residents of Balashikha, Elektrostal, Solnechnogorsk, Dmitrov, Domodedovo, Troitsk, Taldom, Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Krasnogorsk, Pushkino, Ramenskoye, Voskresensk, Losino-Petrovsky, and Selyatino are also without power.
That means that in total, more than a quarter of Moscow's cities have been hit with power outages and a lack of heating.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.
Many residents have taken to publishing video appeals on social media to complain about their freezing conditions. In one clip, people living in Moscow say that they are left with no choice but to warm their homes with gas stoves, heaters, and "whatever else we can find." Others said they are lighting fires in the streets to keep warm.
Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, announced on Tuesday that Putin ordered the ammunition plant to be nationalized because two of its owners have been "located abroad." He didn't name the individuals.
"We received the right to take control of this boiler house within the framework of an emergency," Vorobiev said, adding that the plant's boiler room was managed "very poorly" and there was "virtually no qualified competent personnel."
Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case over Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant not meeting safety requirements.
On Tuesday, the committee said that because of the incident, the deputy head of Podolsk's administration, the head of the plant's boiler house, and the general director of the ammunition plant had been detained.
Residents of Selyatino have described the situation as "some kind of struggle for survival," Russian Telegram channel ASTRA reported.
Power outages have also struck St. Petersburg, Rostov, Volgograd, Voronezh, Primorsky Territory, and Yekaterinburg.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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