INSIDE RUSSIA

Just yesterday, in THE WEEKEND CRAZY NEWS UPDATE, I told you about a major utility breakdown in the city of Angarsk in Siberia. A local heating power plant broke down, leaving 200,000 residents in 1,500 tenement blocks without heating in -30°C (-22°F) weather. You can find more details here https://youtube.com/live/UyiGdq6laUY?… I have long forecasted that Russia is on the brink of a major nationwide utility failure. Looks like this is it! Heating in Angarsk hasn’t been fully restored yet (it’s been over a week now), and Rostov-on-Don, the southern city of 1,000,000 people, is following suit. Today, Rostov was partially left without heating. The reason for the outages was a breakdown at the city’s largest heating plant, Rostov TPP-2. According to the authorities, there is no heating or hot water supply in 1,375 tenement blocks and public facilities (kindergartens, schools, hospitals, etc.) in 5 out of 8 city districts (boroughs): Zheleznodorozhny, Sovetsky, Kirovsky, Oktyabrsky, and in parts of the Leninsky district of the city. At current estimations, around 300,000 people are without heating and hot water. Right now in Rostov, the air temperature is -2°C (28°F). The authorities have acknowledged the emergency and promised to work hard to fix the power plant as fast as they can. Now, the sinister part is that the authorities KNEW this failure was coming! This past summer, the Rostov city administration MODELED the situation—what would happen if the main source of heat supply to the city, Rostov Thermal Power Plant No. 2 (CHP-2), completely stopped. The accident was modeled with the expectation that the shutdown would be long, and the air temperature at that time would be -18°C. They know the poor state of TPP-2. Rostov TPP-2 was built and commissioned in 1974. The heating plant belongs to Lukoil-Rostovenergo LLC. It provides heat and hot water for about 70% of Rostov’s total demand. I keep my eyes open. Please stay tuned for developments. ❤️K