Rare Public Protest Held In Krasnodar Over Electricity Blackouts

Residents of the Russian city of Krasnodar on July 20 staged a rare public protest to vent their anger over recent power cuts affecting southern Russia. An estimated 200 to 300 people turned out for the protest to demand that the authorities resume the supply of electricity and water. They blocked a street in the north of the city as they voiced complaints about the cuts to services, which they said are becoming more frequent, Russian online media reported.

The protesters said that this summer their lights initially were turned off once a week, then three times a week, and now there is no electricity for 12-15 hours a day, the Baza Telegram channel reported.

People demand that they be given electricity for at least three hours, the online publication 93.RU reported.

Public protests are rare in Russia given the risk of arrest and detention and in light of a clampdown on dissent since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The protest in Krasnodar appeared to have been peaceful, though there were reports of two arrests.

Krasnodar Mayor Yevgeny Naumov, police officers, and members of the National Guard were at the scene, according to Russian media reports. The authorities promised to ensure the supply of water.

Authorities in the Krasnodar region earlier this week said the electricity blackouts were necessary due to restrictions on the supply of electricity from other regions and a heat wave in southern Russia.

Extreme temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and a decrease in the flow of power to the region have meant “the equipment of the unified power system is under significant loads, especially in the daytime,” Krasnodar’s Ministry for Energy and Public Utilities said in a statement quoted by Interfax on July 17.

"There has been abnormal heat in the Krasnodar region for a week now. The load on the energy system is colossal. I know and understand all the indignation of residents due to power outages," regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram.

The system operator said on July 16 that the energy system of the south of Russia set a power consumption record.

The following day, Russia's nuclear energy operator, Rosenergoatom, said a unit of the Rostov Nuclear Power Plant was switched off. The shutdown left some 1 million people in southern Russia and parts of occupied Crimea without electricity.

Rosenergoatom later said the shutdown was due to a "false alarm” but did not elaborate on the cause. The unit has been put back into operation.The Rostov Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the Volgodonsk Nuclear Power Plant, has four units with a total capacity of more than 4,000 megawatts. The plant is located on the left bank of the Don River near the city of Volgodonsk, some 1,100 kilometers south of Moscow.

In recent months, Ukraine, whose energy infrastructure has been relentlessly pummeled by Russian strikes since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion, has in turn resorted to targeting Russian energy facilities, mainly oil refineries and those that work for the Russian military.