Krasnodar protests spiral as power outages reach crisis point
9:07 PM EDT, July 20, 2024
Residents of Krasnodar, Russia, have had enough. They have been without electricity and water for over a day. Driven to the brink, they took to the streets and started protesting. The Russian authorities responded in their usual manner: by arresting and brutally interrogating the protesters.
According to the Nexta profile on the X platform, at least two protesters have been detained. One thing is clear - the residents of Krasnodar are desperate. They have even started blocking streets in the city. In some areas of Krasnodar, there is neither electricity nor water. Meanwhile, the temperature outside is reaching 102°F.
Residents hope that protesting in the streets will draw the attention of both local and possibly federal authorities. It started with power outages. Initially, it was once a week, then three times.
Now, power is out for up to 12-15 hours a day. This is happening in buildings with up to 540 apartments.
Power plant workers are reportedly ignoring residents' calls. Those who managed to contact them have to wait for power generators, which cannot meet the demand for energy.
Russians without power and water for several days. Local authorities are aware of the problem
The mayor of Krasnodar, Yevgeny Naumov, met with the protesters. He delivered a highly populist speech, which did little to help.
I won't leave here until we restore the power supply. Now we will sit down for talks with the electric company. If you want, you can chain me to a power pole, the mayor said, as infromed newsonlineread.com.
He also added that problems at the Rostov nuclear power plant cause power outages. He urged the protesters to get off the roads and allow drivers to function normally. He promised residents that local services would soon bring drinking water to their homes.
Krasnodar is not the only region that has felt the lack of power. For the same reason, residents of the Rostov region and Dagestan, and Crimea have recently suffered.