Winter Woes: Regions Struggle to Cope with Russias Icy Challenges

Welcome to Regions Calling, your source for updates from areas outside the Russian capital, brought to you by The Moscow Times.

As subzero temperatures and snowfall sweep across much of Russia this week, the much-anticipated Russian winter has formally arrived. While it often evokes images of stunning landscapes, this season also poses significant hardships for everyday Russians and regional officials, who appear to be consistently unprepared for the inevitable snowfalls and cold weather every year.

In this edition of our newsletter, we delve into the realities of winter in Russia’s various regions. First, here’s a roundup of notable events you may have missed:

In the Kursk region, close to the Ukrainian border, residents demonstrated against the regional government’s decision to terminate monthly compensation for those whose homes were significantly affected during Kyiv’s 2024-2025 offensive.

Sergei Furgal, the imprisoned former governor of the Khabarovsk region, has received a new 23-year prison sentence on charges that include large-scale fraud and power abuse. Furgal, one of the few opposition figures to claim victory in a gubernatorial election under Putin’s rule, was arrested in 2020 on murder allegations, widely viewed as politically motivated, triggering extensive protests in his region.

In Nizhny Tagil, a prominent industrial city in the Sverdlovsk region, around 200 employees of the Volkovskoe copper mine reported that they have not received wages for over two months and have run out of funds to leave the site. «The situation is dire: people can’t meet loan payments, mortgages, or utility bills, nor can they support their families, and they are unable to leave the site,» one worker stated in a video message shared on Tuesday.

In Chechnya, a Ukrainian drone strike caused damage to a high-rise building in Grozny that houses several regional government offices, including the Chechen Security Council.

In Dagestan, nearly 500 endangered Caspian seals have been found dead along the coast of the Caspian Sea, prompting local authorities to initiate a multi-agency investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile, a military court in Khabarovsk has sentenced independent journalist Sasha Alexandrova from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) to three years in a penal colony. Arrested in March under allegations of «public justification of terrorism,» the specifics of her charges have not been disclosed, but supporters and activists assert they are tied to her outspoken anti-war views.

Winter in Russia’s Regions: The Unvarnished Truth

“We are capable of hosting the BRICS summit and the Universiade, as well as the Sabantuy festivals; however, the onset of winter and the first heavy snowfall reveals us as a team of inept individuals who cannot manage even this,” remarked Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin during a government meeting on Monday. His comments followed an acknowledgment from the city’s Urban Development Committee head that Kazan’s snow removal teams are short nearly 100 specialized workers needed to handle the expected snowfall in Tatarstan this week.

From heating outages to clogged highways, winter brings substantial challenges for the regional population and local officials as infrastructure and public services struggle to cope with snow and cold conditions.

Faced with criticism from even their most devoted supporters, local officials often attribute these issues to budget constraints, as well as the financial troubles and bankruptcies of snow removal and road maintenance contractors.

In neighboring Bashkortostan, where the first snow fell on Monday, Ufa officials revealed that they had filled only half of the necessary positions for city sanitation personnel, leaving approximately 1,180 vacancies unaddressed in preparation for winter.

Similar situations have arisen in the Republic of Sakha, where winter can last up to nine months. Services in Sakha’s capital, Yakutsk, were unprepared when the region experienced its first snowfall in September. Residents reported treacherous, snow-packed roads and significant delays in public transportation.

«Every year at the end of September, snow arrives in Yakutsk. Each year, the onset of winter catches municipal services off guard, and no one ever seems ready,» a local resident remarked to SakhaDay.

In recent weeks, major highways and smaller roads throughout various Russian towns and cities became nearly impassable as winter fully set in, according to local media reports.

On December 1, hundreds of drivers found themselves stranded on a section of the Baikal Highway, part of the Trans-Siberian Highway, after severe weather for three consecutive days dropped temperatures to around minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), accompanied by heavy snowfall and high winds. The traffic jam stretched roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) along Lake Baikal’s southwestern shore. Some drivers, including families with children, reported running low on fuel, food, and water.

Local officials stated that the worsening situation was due to several truck drivers violating road regulations, leading to accidents that further obstructed traffic. However, many stranded drivers claimed that snow removal crews were significantly delayed in their response.

The gridlock continued overnight, with motorists who managed to escape reporting they had to bend traffic rules to do so, according to local media sources. «We drove against traffic behind an ambulance, with no warning signs or reversible lanes in sight. It was absolute chaos,» one of the drivers told the independent news outlet Veter.

In southern Siberia, authorities in Angarsk declared a state of emergency on Monday after a power station failure left over 167,000 residents—more than half of the city’s population—without heating for three days, with temperatures dropping below minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit).

Similar incidents have been reported throughout Siberia and the Russian Far East. In Vladivostok, 6,000 residents were left without heating on the same day, although temperatures were milder at minus 3 degrees Celsius (26 Fahrenheit).

«Last year, we endured three days without heating when it was minus 50 degrees Celsius because of an accident at a heating plant in our area,» recalled a mother of two from Angarsk in an interview with Novaya Gazeta Europe. «What do you expect us, parents with small children, to do? Adults can withstand it, but the authorities also warn us not to use electric heaters as it might overload the system and cut the electricity. I’ve already sent an appeal to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin regarding this situation,» she added.

During a tree lighting ceremony in Yakutsk, the world’s coldest major city, dancers donned traditional Sakha attire to celebrate the start of the holiday season in Russia. Hundreds attended the ceremony, despite temperatures plunging to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 Fahrenheit).