The war against Ukraine and reduced spending on housing and communal services led to mass blackouts of heat and electricity in the territory of Russia in winter. This is precisely the task before Putin before the presidential election in March.
An excellent house servicer. Putin must "deal with" the Russian housing and communal services
Even before the presidential elections in March of this year, Vladimir Putin needed to solve a large-scale problem in Russia.
This was reported by the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain on the X social network (Twitter).
In recent months, heating failures have occurred in 16 settlements in Russia. These sub-zero disruptions compound a problem that has plagued Russian cities and towns for decades but has likely been exacerbated by Russia's wartime policies.
According to British intelligence, Russia has always prioritised military spending over reinvestment in public infrastructure, especially after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Many regional governments were asked to take the brunt of the problem with cuts in allocations from Moscow, which led to a drop in maintenance costs.
In addition, the report said that mobilisation is likely to lead to labour shortages in all sectors, including skilled heating and plumbing engineers.
Putin has asked Minister of Emergency Situations, Aleksandr Kurenkov, to ensure the supply of heating and electricity to residents. Appearing to tackle this issue is likely a key concern for Putin ahead of the forthcoming Russian presidential election, the British Ministry of Defense notes.
Residents of Russia do not have heating in winter
The winter of 2023-2024 began with a communal collapse for many residents of Russia. Since December 1, accidents related to the bursting of heat and water supply pipes began to be recorded all over the territory of the Russian Federation. The number of homes left without water and heating is among the highest in decades.
The collapse also affected central Russia, where hundreds of houses were left without heating during the frost.
At the same time, the Russian authorities will not increase housing costs. On the contrary, they are cutting them in half. While the military budget for the continuation of the war of aggression against Ukraine is growing.
