Russia power boss quizzed on cut

The blackout caused chaos on the Moscow underground

The head of Russia's energy monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, has been questioned over a power cut on Wednesday which brought much of Moscow to a standstill.

Prosecutors have mounted a criminal investigation into the power cut, which the company blamed on an explosion and fire at an electricity substation.

The cut paralysed public transport and left homes, shops, restaurants and hospitals without power.

The city's public transport has now been brought back to normal.

But power cuts and water shortages are still affecting some parts of Moscow.

Tide of criticism

Mr Chubais arrived at the Moscow prosecutor's office for questioning several hours later than originally scheduled.

Calls have been growing for the resignation of Mr Chubais, a former liberal politician who is reviled by many Russians for his key role in the controversial 1990s privatisations.

Mr Chubais is disliked by many for his privatisation role

One human rights group said the targeting of Mr Chubais in the aftermath of the power cut was clearly politically motivated.

BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke says Mr Chubais is the last major figure from the Yeltsin years to be both free and still in his original job.

He has had near misses before, including an assassination attempt in March this year, and has angered the Kremlin with his public statements against President Vladimir Putin, as well as his attempts to unite the country's fractious opposition.

This week he has faced a tide of criticism from authority figures, led by Mr Putin.

Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said that "to a significant extent" the blackout resulted from the fact that the company, Unified Energy Systems (UES) was not taking "appropriate measures".

However, the Russian parliament, the Duma, has dropped plans to debate a motion calling for his dismissal.

Mr Chubais apologised for the blackout and said he was ready to take responsibility.

Heat factor

About 20,000 commuters in the capital are reported to have been evacuated from underground trains stranded by the outage.

Hospitals were forced to switch on to emergency power supplies and some blocks of flats were left without running water. Many businesses, including restaurants, were also hit.

The discomfort was made worse by the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the year so far with temperatures above 30C - and without the electricity to power air conditioning systems.

Officials ruled out the possibility of sabotage as the cause of the fire.