Widespread Power Outages Hit Moscow

May 25 - Associated Press/AP Online

Electricity outages hit large sections of the Russian capital and nearby regions Wednesday, forcing many subway lines and trolley buses to halt service while frustrated pedestrians tried to flag down taxis on traffic-jammed streets.

Magarita Nagoga, a spokeswoman for Unified Electricity Systems, the country's power grid, said the outages stemmed from a fire and explosion at a substation.

The problems broke out late Tuesday and workers tried to repair the damaged equipment but were unable to get them into full operation before electricity demands hit their peak Wednesday morning amid an early summer heatwave.

"We primarily believe that the main reason is that the equipment is worn out," Nagoga said, noting that the substation was built in 1963.

The substation problem then caused a cascade effect into other parts of the grid. UES reported the spread had stopped by Wednesday afternoon, news agencies said, but it was unclear when full service would be restored. Subways also were being put back into service.

The problems extended as far as the Tula region, 120 miles south of Moscow, Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko told the lower house of parliament.

The Interfax news agency reported an explosion at a chemical factory in the Tula region that resulted from the power outage, sending nitric oxide into the air. Emergency officials were advising residents to stay inside their homes and shut their windows, the agency reported.

UES chairman Anatoly Chubais said he took responsibility for the blackout after meeting with top government officials. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, suggested that the UES management had neglected simple grid repairs and growing consumer demands.

"I think it's possible to talk about the inadequate attention that the UES leadership has paid to the current activities of the company," Putin said in televised comments.

The prosecutor-general's office later announced that it had opened a criminal investigation against the management of the electricity grid for negligence and abuse of authority.

News reports said the power failure caused some apartment buildings to lose their water supply and forced suspension of trading on both of Moscow's stock exchanges. The Central Bank issued a statement warning that some bank transfers and ATM service may have been affected, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

City health department spokesman Andrei Seltsovsky said at least 20 hospitals were without electricity and patients requiring emergency treatment were being moved to places that still had power or were operating on generators, according to Interfax.

Passengers were evacuated from stalled subway trains, Interfax cited system spokesman Dmitri Gaev as saying. Passengers waiting for trains were asked to leave the stations, but hundreds of people remained on the platforms, impatiently peering into the tunnels.

"Like always, they're not telling us anything," said Lena Trofimova, 44, who was waiting for a bus near the Kremlin after leaving a nearby subway station.

Along Leninsky Prospekt, a major north-south thoroughfare, the sidewalks were crammed with people walking south, trying to head to their home in residential districts. Some looked confusedly at maps and others tried to insert themselves into packed city buses.

Despite the stresses, no disorder was reported and most of the affected people appeared to take the inconvenience with stoic resignation, even despite unusually warm temperatures that reached near 85 degrees for a third day.

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