Press release, December 18, 2013

YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin sent a statement to the Public Prosecutor of Sochi, the regional energy supplying company OAO Kubanenergo” and the Presidential Administration demanding to restore heating, water provision and electricity in Sochi. In the past few months Sochi residents were regularly cut off from electricity, heat and hot water.

YABLOKO received complaints from all the four areas of the “Greater Sochi” – Adler, Lazarevskoye, Khostinskoye and Centralnoye, and in particular from the Makarenko district, towns Moldovka, Verkhniy Yurt, Dagomis, Sergei-Polye and village Russkaya Polyana. The list is most likely to be incomplete.

The situation in the Central District is worst. Residents of the district have been getting replies from the City Council and the city administration for several months already that the situation would be improved shortly. However, these answers turned out to be words only.

The energy supplier “Kubanenergo” neglected the problem. According to them, there were no applications or requests for repairs.

“In early December, Vladimir Kozhin, head of the Presidential Property Management Department, said that almost 80 per cent of the funds allocated for the preparation for the Olympics was spent on the infrastructure of Sochi. Today, the resident s of Sochi see in practice the “implementation” of this cynical statement,” Sergei Mitrokhin noted.

A year ago YABLOKO leader applied to the Mayor of Sochi with a request to organise a comprehensive check of the urban grids, as electricity was cut off in the city up to ten times per month. The Mayor replied that there were no problems with the power supply in Sochi.