Cold forces Russian action in heating row

Residents of the Russian far east struggle to keep warm as heating supplies fail

As winter takes hold in the Russian Far East the regional authorities have been forced to step in to restore heating supplies to schools and homes after power companies refused to make deliveries in protest against unpaid bills.

The commission for emergency situations in Primorskiy Territory ordered the regional energy provider Dalenergo to deliver heating supplies to local councils even though they owed millions of dollars in outstanding fuel bills.

Several hundred tonnes of fuel oil have now been sent to the area, where temperatures at night drop to -10C, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

Too cold to work

Over the weekend thousands of residents of two towns in the region, Artem and Kavalerovo, blocked major roads to protest against the lack of heat, Kommersant newspaper said.

Regional officials order resumption of heating supplies

Nurseries were closed and pupils at five local schools told to stay at home as classrooms were too cold.

In other schools classes started later than usual to allow the temperature to rise.

"We can't work until sunshine warms up the classrooms. It gets better in the afternoon," a teacher told Russian Public TV.

The head doctor of Artem's ambulance service said his staff had no heating "at home or at work".

"We work 24 hours a day, in and out of the street and it's no better inside. Even ink freezes, we cannot write patients' sickness records," he said.

Authorities act

The TV said that "the gravity of the situation in Artem forced the Territorial administration to intervene" and showed Deputy Territorial Governor and emergencies commission head Konstantin Tolstoshein saying: "We have ordered Dalenergo to start supplying heating to Artem. The town should be heated."

Local residents often have to deal with power cuts

But Mr Tolstoshein also went on the offensive against the media, claiming on NTV that the situation was not as black as it had been painted and cautioning that far worse weather was to come.

He said that the current situation was "supportable" and the weather was not that cold.

Cuts in supplies of heating, electricity and hot water are a perennial winter problem in Russia's far east as the local and federal authorities squabble over who is responsible for ensuring that there are adequate funds to pay the energy companies.

And until the problem of energy debts is resolved the region's residents are likely to face further hardship.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.