Russia Hit By A "tsunami" Of Communal Accidents
- 2.02.2026, 12:50
Lights, water and heat have been cut off thousands of times.
The number of utility accidents in Russia has jumped sharply since the new year. Electricity outages were reported 723 times, heating 552 times and water 513 times, Nova Gazeta Europe calculated. A total of 1,778 cases were publicly reported. By comparison, there were 983 in January 2025. The leaders in power outages were the Krasnodar Territory and the Murmansk Region. In the first region, one of the major accidents occurred in Belorechensk. According to the authorities, more than 84 thousand subscribers were left without light on New Year's Day due to heavy snowfall. One of the residents said that the blackout could not be eliminated for a week.
In Murmansk region, the regional capital and neighboring Severomorsk - the location of the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet - lost light on January 23 due to the collapse of five transmission line towers, four of which were more than 40 years old. After the emergency work, the power went out again on January 31.
In addition to the two above-mentioned regions, light was also often lost in the Belgorod region. The situation was aggravated by shelling. Thus, the largest outage occurred on January 9: then the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit two thermal power plants and substation "Storozhevaya", leaving 556 thousand people without power supply.
Dagestan was among the leaders in water outages due to accidents. In Kaspiysk, water was not supplied to several apartment buildings from January 2 to January 19. In social networks, residents of other large settlements in the region complained about a similar problem. "In the central cities of the republic there is no water, sometimes they turn off the heating, turn off gas and light. Garbage is not removed in a timely manner, the roads are in terrible condition," one of the posts said.
Mass heating problems in January were recorded in the Transbaikal Territory. Residents of Atamanovka village in Chita district, just like Krasnodar residents, met the New Year in cold apartments because of a heating main breakdown. About 3 thousand people were affected, they could not be connected for a week. On January 21, the main heating main was torn in the settlement of Darasun, Karymsky district.
The Volgograd region was also among the leaders in heating cut-offs: residents complained that because of the accident on the gas pipeline, the temperature in the apartments dropped to 11 degrees Celsius, and ice formed on the windows. "This is no longer about 'communal inconvenience', but a direct threat to children's health. When the house is falling apart, the pipes are rotten from the moment of construction, and the management company just 'disappears' - this is a failure of the entire system of housing and utilities and control," wrote one of the residents.
According to the Minister of Construction and Housing Irek Faizullin, the wear and tear of utility networks in the regions ranges from 40 to 80%, which leads to frequent accidents. At the same time, according to plans, by 2028, the costs of housing and utilities will decrease by 2% compared to 2025.
At the same time, Russians are waiting for an increase in housing and utilities tariffs. The first indexation took place on January 1, and the second is scheduled for October, after the elections to the State Duma. The cumulative increase in some regions may exceed 20%.