Winter Freeze Threats Come Back To Bite Russia As Power Outages Spread

Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to let Europe "freeze" over winter have come back to bite his country as power outages spread nationwide.

Tens of thousands of Russians are reported to have no heating in their homes in the Moscow region alone after a heating main burst at the Klimovsk Specialized Ammunition Plant in the town of Podolsk, which is around 30 miles south of central Moscow, on January 4.

Residents in multiple regions including Rostov, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, and Voronezh have also been affected by lengthy power outages, and some have resorted to filming video appeals as they grapple with the subzero temperatures. In one of the clips, Russians complain that they are freezing and that they are left with no choice but to warm their homes with gas stoves, heaters, and "whatever else we can find."

Others are lighting fires in the streets to keep warm. Newsweek has not independently verified the clips circulating online and has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

"Russia promised to freeze Europe, but is now freezing itself. Accidents at utility companies are systemic and the Russian authorities can't handle them," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, said on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.

He was referring to threats issued by Putin and other Russian officials since 2022—when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began—to halt energy supplies to Europe to let it "freeze."

"By the way, the thesis of 'freezing Europe' is regularly mentioned by the Russian authorities, who threaten to cut off gas to Western countries if the Kremlin's political demands are not met," said Gerashchenko.

"For example, the thesis of Europe's total dependence on Russian supplies is often mentioned in [former Russian President] Dmitry Medvedev's Telegram channel."

Gerashchenko wrote that in September 2022, Russian energy giant Gazprom released a video that sought to taunt the West.

"Gazprom released a video for the song 'And the winter will be long', in which a man with the inscription 'Gazprom' on his uniform shuts off the gas valve, after that an 'ice age' occurs in European cities."

The official added: "As we can see, in reality it is the Russians who are freezing."

On Sunday, two shopping malls in Russia's second largest city, St. Petersburg, were forced to close due to problems with light and heating, reported local news outlet 78.ru. Hundreds of other homes in the city have had no electricity, water or heating for days amid temperatures of -25 C (-13 F).

Russian authorities have also been forced to compensate passengers of a train that ran from Samara to St. Petersburg (a 20-hour journey) without heating during -30 C (-22 F) temperatures. Videos circulating on social media showed carriage windows frozen over. A passenger also said the toilet didn't work during the trip due to frozen pipes.

An apology was issued after the Russian Telegram channel Caution News reported that passengers were not given blankets or hot drinks during the journey.

"The Federal Passenger Company apologizes to passengers for the inconvenience caused," said a subsidiary of Russian Railways, the Federal Passenger Company, RBC news reported.

Widespread power outages have also been reported in Russia's western Voronezh region, in the southwest city of Volgograd, and in Rostov, which borders Ukraine.

Local authorities have been "quite successful" in "freezing Russians," said Gerashchenko.

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