Authorities in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk said on January 11 that a 50-year-old segment of a heating pipe burst, flooding the area and leaving 237 buildings, including 104 apartment blocks, 20 schools, and several hospitals, without heating amid a deep freeze. A day earlier, similar accidents left hundreds of buildings without heating in the Russian cities of Saratov and Volgograd. On January 4, an accident at a plant in Klimovsk near Moscow disrupted heating at dozens of residential buildings. The issue comes as President Vladimir Putin tries to show living standards are good as he runs for reelection. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
