Shoigu Heads Special Team To Deal With Eastern Freeze
By Denis Dyomkin
Reuters
VLADIVOSTOK, Far East - Mos cow dispatched a 50-strong task force headed by a government minister to Russia's Pacific coast region on Wednesday to find out why 90,000 people have been without heat in their apartments for weeks. Prosecutors in the Primorye region were pushing ahead with criminal proceedings against local officials after families have been shivering for weeks in homes with temperatures no higher than five degrees Celsius. Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, routinely dispatched by authorities to Russia's many and varied disasters, flew into the region which is eight time zones east of Moscow. "The minister will evaluate how critical the situation in Primorye is in order to find an emergency solution to the crisis brought about by the failure to provide winter-time heating," a spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry in the region said. Itar-Tass news agency later said Shoigu had told authorities in the region bordering China and North Korea that they had until Dec. 15 to resolve the problem. Shoigu is the second high-ranking government minister to be dispatched to Primorye over the last two weeks, as outside temperatures have plunged to minus 28 degrees Celsius. The ministry spokesperson said that no end to the crisis was in sight and that more trouble could be lurking if heating stations ran out of whatever fuel remained and frozen pipes burst. In the towns of Artyom, Arsenyev and in the Khasan district there was only enough heating oil to keep the water in the pipes from freezing for a few more days, he said by telephone. Enraged residents have blocked highways to attract attention and congested the airport in the local capital Vladivostok. President Vladimir Putin has called the situation an "utter disgrace" and put the blame squarely on local bosses. Gov. Yev ge ny Nazdratenko retorted that the crisis was rooted in Moscow's outstanding debts to the region and its failure to curb steep increases in fuel prices. The Finance Ministry has reluctantly released some funds while local prosecutors, spurred into action by Putin's comments, have opened 11 criminal cases against local officials. Interfax news agency said prosecutors had formally charged several municipal officials with failing to provide heating to customers. It said investigators were already questioning witnesses and checking financial documents. If convicted, the officials face up to three years in jail. A further strain on the region was an assassination attempt on Maya Shchokina, newly appointed head of a regional publishing house. She was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds after being attacked as she left her apartment building.
|
Перевести на русский
Print this article
