Reports from Europe and the former Soviet Union on the sudden wave of severe freezing weather:

Thirteen people die from cold snap in Belarus

Thirteen people died in Belarus by 17th December as a result of cold weather, Belarusian radio reported.

Of these, six died in Minsk Region, three each in Gomel and Vitebsk Regions and one person in Brest Region.

Another 60 people were admitted to hospital suffering from cold.

Emergency supplies for the homeless

Almost all the victims were homeless or drunk, the radio said, adding that the Ministry of Health had urged the government to provide poverty-stricken people with warm clothing and hot food.

Source: Belarusian Radio, Minsk, in Belarusian 1300 gmt 18 Dec 97

Bad weather shuts down Azeri airports

All the airports in Azerbaijan have been closed because of a "sharp deterioration in weather conditions", Turan news agency reported on Thursday.

All flights from Baku's Bina airport and the country's second airport in the western town of Gyandzha had to be closed on Wednesday as the bad weather affected the entire territory of the republic, the agency said, quoting the press service of state-run Azerbaijani Airlines.

"All flights due to leave Baku airport on the evening of 16th December were cancelled as the runways were iced over and there was heavy snow and gusting wind," the agency said.

The road from Baku city centre to the airport is also closed because of snow drifts.

Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 0630 gmt 18 Dec 97

Poland: freezing weather kills 17

Text of report by Polish TV

[Presenter] Seventeen people have frozen to death during the last three days. The bodies of new victims were found today, among other places, in Gdansk, Czestochowa, Sokolka, Wegorzewo and Zabkowice Slaskie [across all Poland]. In most cases the victims were homeless or they had drunk alcohol earlier.

[Reporter] All hostels for the homeless in Poznan [western Poland] are full but new homeless people keep reporting. They can only be fed and kept warm for a while.

In Wroclaw [southwestern Poland] some of the 1,000 homeless spend nights in stairwells and at the bus depot. Those who have no identity documents are not eligible for any social security help.

In Torun and Wloclawek [central-northern Poland] there are still some places in the hostels. In Bydgoszcz [northern Poland], although the limit has already been exceeded, the homeless are still accepted.

In Katowice [southwestern Poland] about 30 people live in the sewers and at the heating stations. Some of them refuse to use the hostels. A temperature of minus 20 degrees was reported in Katowice this morning. Several dozen people reported to the emergency services suffering of frost bite to their feet, hands and faces.

The owners of houses which have not fully dried out after the floods [last summer] are having serious problems. In the Wroclaw area alone there are 1,500 such buildings. The residents are saying that the walls are not cracking in the freezing temperatures but that this will inevitably happen when temperatures rise.

Source: TV Polonia satellite service, Warsaw, in Polish 1600 gmt 17 Dec 97

Russian premier orders increase in gas supplies to North Caucasus

Excerpt from report in English by ITAR-TASS news agency

Moscow, 17th December: Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has instructed the country's Ministry of Fuel and Energy to increase fuel, especially gas, supplies to Russia's southern regions, the North Caucasus and Dagestan, a spokesman for the Russian government said on Wednesday [17th December].

According to the Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy, the cold snap which has gripped the country caused an increase in average daily gas consumption from 1.24bn to 1.31bn cubic metres.

All regions, including central Russia, have exceeded the agreed gas consumption volumes, while gas supplies to the North Caucasus have decreased...

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency (World Service), Moscow, in English 2032 gmt 17 Dec 97

Dagestan declares emergency as gas supplies drop to 30% of norm

Excerpt from report in English by Russian news agency Interfax

Makhachkala, 17th December: Russia's gas giant Gazprom has pledged to do all it can to supply more gas to Dagestan, where the acute fuel shortage has forced the local authorities to declare a state of emergency throughout the republic on Wednesday [17th December].

The general director of the republic's gas company Dagestangazprom, Nasrudin Nasrudinov [as received], told Interfax that additional quantities of gas will be pumped into a gas pipeline connecting Russia and Dagestan from the underground tanks in Russia's Stavropol Territory. These extra moves, according to Nasrudinov, follow Dagestan leaders' appeals to Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Gazprom chief Rem Vyakhirev.

The director blamed the slump in gas delivery to Dagestan on unexpected temperature drops in the North Caucasus and on increased gas consumption elsewhere. He explained that gas was reaching Dagestan from Stavropol through Georgiyevsk, Mozdok and Chervlennaya village.

The cold weather has caused a rise in gas consumption in Stavropol Territory, Kabarda-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia and Chechnya. As a result, gas supplies to Dagestan, situated at the end of the gas pipeline, have sharply declined. Of the planned daily supply of 8.7m cubic metres, the republic gets less than 30% today, Nasrudinov said...

Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1612 gmt 17 Dec 97

State of emergency declared in frost-bound Ukrainian region

A state of emergency has been announced in Ukraine's frost-stricken Donbass coal region, ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

It said that Donetsk Region, one of the areas covered by the Donbass, had suffered most from the frosts with ice 1.5 cm thick covering the earth on 14th December, while the frosts on 15th December made the ice even thicker.

A total of 1,757 transformer sub-stations have become unoperational as a result of broken power lines. Residents of over 200 towns and villages have been without electricity for two days in a row.

The situation was most alarming in Krasnoarmeysk district, where the electricity supply to five mines was cut off. Four of the mines resumed functioning on 16th December but a fifth is still idle, the agency said.

Repair workers are restoring broken power lines despite the wind and frosts of 20-25 degrees centigrade below zero. Civil defence brigades, stationed in Donetsk, are helping the municipal services to clear the roads of snow and ice, the agency added.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency (World Service), Moscow, in English 1456 gmt 16 Dec 97

Five die as Moscow temperatures drop to minus 30C

Moscow River frozen

Five people died as a result of the cold in Moscow during the night of 15th-16th December where temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees centigrade, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

It said doctors treated 38 people for frost-bite during the Russian capital's coldest night on record. Outside the city in Moscow Region, temperatures were as low as minus 35C, the radio said.

Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 0900 gmt 16 Dec 97

Belarusian president warns officials over cold weather consequences

Excerpts from report by Belarusian radio on 16th December

In connection with the very difficult weather conditions, the president of the Republic of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has sent a top-level government telegram to heads of ministries and other national bodies of state administration, chairmen of Regional executive committees and the Minsk city executive committee, as well as chairmen of town and district executive committees and heads of town district administrations.

The telegram says: In the next few days, especially 16th and 17th December, a further drop in the air temperature is expected to reach minus 25-30 degrees [Celsius] at night and, in places, as low as minus 32-33, by day 21-26 degrees of frost. The lowest temperatures are expected in Vitebsk, Grodno and Minsk Regions.

In expressing my serious concern at this turn of events, I draw your attention to the need for providing the population with normal living conditions, stable functioning of the national economy and territorial and sectional bodies of administration and all relevant services...

The Council of Ministers of Belarus and emergency situation commissions at every level must ensure that operational data on the situation is collected locally on a regular basis. The data must be analysed and the relevant decisions taken as a matter of urgency.

I place personal responsibility for fulfilling these instructions and for taking measures to provide the public with life support and uninterrupted functioning of production on heads of executive committees, ministries and other national bodies of state administration.

Incidents of irresponsibility, delays in reacting to the needs of the national economy to function smoothly, failure to take effective measures to eliminate consequences of accidents at enterprises will be considered as criminal negligence on the part of heads of state bodies, enterprises, institutions and organizations.

The State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB must provide the appropriate monitoring to ensure that these instructions are executed unconditionally.

Source: Belarusian Radio, Minsk, in Belarusian 0400 gmt 16 Dec 97

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