Russia's Cold, Cruel Winter
Russia's winter has arrived early and fierce, with fuel shortages causing desperate situations in parts of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people are without heat or electricity, reports CBS News Senior European Correspondent Tom Fenton.
In Vladivostok, a Pacific port city of 600,000, a state of emergency has been declared. The central heating has been cut off in half the city.
It's even worse in Asian Kamchatka, where families are cooking meals in the street. People are using anything they can get their hands on for fuel. Soup kitchens have been set up for those who can't cope.
| CBS News Reports: Russia In Crisis | |
 | MTV Is A Tough Sell In Russia |
 | A Bleak Winter On The Volga |
 | The Show Goes On In Moscow |
The central power plant there is almost out of fuel and has no money to buy more, leaving most of the city cold and dark. Families in glacial apartments are bundling up in bed as pipes burst and sewage freezes in toilets. In such extreme circumstances, it takes Russian ingenuity just to stay alive.
"We go to bed with plastic bottles filled with hot water. We don't have hot water, but my mom boils some," said one little boy.
The price of candles and canned gas has soared. The only thing the government is not running out of is explanations.
In his well-heated Moscow office, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov, who is in charge of the economy, said Tuesday night that everything was under control. He accused local governments in the hardest-hit areas of mismanagement.
In short, everything seems to be falling apart as Russia enters what is expected to be one of the coldest winters since records were first kept more than 100 years ago. Temperatures have already dropped as low as five below zero in Moscow. The real winter is yet to come.
Reported by Tom Fenton
©1998, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved