The governor of Karelia, Artur Parfenshikov, is bombarded with angry messages, because people are stuck in the freezing cold without light, heat and water. But the situation only seems to be getting worse, writes Ivan, contributor to the Letters from Russia series.
A year the first week is always special in Russia. That's when we celebrate the local Christmas holiday, the longest holiday in the country. It became really special for me this year, because I spent my vacation in a small village in Karelia, Russia. Almost six out of ten days had to survive without electricity.
Hard ones due to frost, similar problems have occurred in many places in the European part of Russia. For example, in the city of Podolsk, located in the Moscow region, more than 20,000 residents of the area were left without heat and hot water after an accident occurred in the boiler room of the power plant (no one was injured). President Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that the president “is aware” of this municipal accident in Podolsk, and soon after that it started happening. Several local government leaders and officials were arrested. They are accused of abuse of office and neglect of security requirements.
Podolsk is close to Moscow, while Karelia is far away. A local power outage does not cause a national uproar. Officials are not arrested or even fired.
On the ninth of January in the Lahdenpohja region of Karelia was assembled however, the Committee for the Prevention of Emergencies. At the end of the holidays, the electricity went out in the entire area for more than a day. School children's vacations were extended by several days, because the temperature in the school buildings was about ten degrees.
The governor of Karelia Artur Parfenshikov The VKontakte page received hundreds of angry messages from people who were suffering without light, heat and water. Instead, the governor himself told about his walks in the winter forest and published the video from the ladder.
Russian the propaganda campaign on television says that Europe is freezing without Russian gas. In reality, Russia is freezing. Although also without gas, which would certainly ease the load on outdated energy networks. For example, gas was promised to the Lahdenpohja area already in 2011. It has been 13 years since then.
My small generator, which is enough to heat one room in the house, consumed over 50 liters of gasoline during the vacation. The neighbors' pipes froze and broke. They need to be completely replaced.
The local authorities responded to the residents' numerous complaints by only recommending to get a solid fuel boiler or install a stove. Maybe it would be necessary.
Residents, however, pay for electricity, and quite a price at that. In winter, it costs 7,000–10,000 rubles (70–100 euros) per month. In Russia, this is a lot.
A fallen tree is lying on top of the power lines. Electricity flows regardless.
Different sorts of of course, faults and accidents in the electric grid occur regularly every year in Karelia. However, this year they have been more frequent due to severe frosts, and the consequences have been more serious for the population.
The reasons are the same. Local stations do not last, even if the network voltage is calculated based on general consumption. Many power lines date back some 40 years.
In small villages, the biggest problem is that trees give way under the snow load and fall on power lines. The lines should be cleaned, but it is not done. Even local roads are littered with fallen trees. It is clear that trees are falling everywhere, but I feel that in Finland, for example, they are being removed quite quickly. Here, a fallen tree can lie on the road for a week, especially if it has not completely blocked the road, but only partially obstructs traffic.
A fallen tree that motorists go around.
in Russia one company, Rosseti, is responsible for supplying electricity to consumers. For Rosset, the breaking of power lines in a village is certainly a “little thing”. Regardless, the village can actually be an area of 2,200 square kilometers with more than 10,000 inhabitants, like here. There is exactly one repair team working in the area.
The repair team visited our village seven times in nine days. The response time to the alarm was from four to twenty hours. I took my time on purpose. It was 25 degrees below zero.
There is nothing to criticize about the employees themselves. You can only feel sorry for them. They said that during the entire vacation they were at home only one day. They sometimes sleep in their car. In Vessa, they visit homes where they come to restore electricity.
Repair team also reported that a large number of workers have gone to work in the so-called “new regions”: Mariupol, Donetsk. They say a very good salary is offered there. The Kremlin is rebuilding the infrastructures it destroyed.
Unlike in Ukraine, which Putin is bombing every day, Russian infrastructure does not even need to be bombed. It will self-destruct.
This year, 881 billion rubles were allocated from the Russian budget for housing and municipal services. For 2026, it is scheduled only 381 billion rubles. With it, even less repairs are made than at present.
A home kitchen familiar to Russians.
On my vacation I cooked on a small portable gas stove. It is made for camping, but in many Russian villages a similar gadget is used as a daily cooking tool.
Nevertheless, the price of electricity will rise. I heard that the problem in Finland is price spikes. But I have not heard of people sitting there for weeks without water and electricity.
Letters from Russia In the series, Mihail, who has escaped from St. Petersburg, Jan from Moscow, and Ivan, who works in Karelia, Russia, write for Helsingin Sanomat. Their real names are not published for security reasons. Work as an independent journalist is a threat to authors, which can lead to arrest or imprisonment in Russia. Stories are compiled and information acquisition is also done in HS's editorial office. Production and editing: Tuija Pallaste / HS
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