Residents of world’s largest Arctic city left without heat as sub-zero temperatures persist in northern Russia

In Russia’s Arctic, Murmansk and the surrounding region, including the city of Severomorsk, have been partially without power since January 23 following damage to power lines operated by the power company Rosseti. Five transmission towers collapsed due to icing, blizzards, and gale-force winds. The power failure brought boiler houses to a halt, leaving residents of the Murmansk region without heating or hot water. According to the estimates from the regional government, roughly 73,000 residents remain without electricity. Amid attempts to restore power by installing temporary transmission towers, regional officials have declared a state of emergency. Locals have disputed claims by Governor Andrey Chibis that power was restored to 80 percent of the homes in Murmansk and Severomorsk by the third day of the blackout. Meduza reviews what we know about the situation.

People living in Murmansk and Severomorsk — cities located above the Arctic Circle — have been reporting large-scale electricity and heating outages for three days. Throughout this period, according to data from Yandex Weather, daytime air temperatures in Murmansk have dropped to 14 °F (-10°C), with overnight lows at 1 °F (-17°C).

The outages began on January 23, after five power transmission towers collapsed in the region. According to the power company Rosseti, wet snow, strong winds, and icing on the lines caused equipment to fail.

Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee stated that the fallen towers had been in operation since the 1960s and 1980s, despite a service life of just 40 years (after which they are required to undergo inspections every five years). Federal officials are currently determining how exactly these inspections were conducted. Meanwhile, the authorities have opened a criminal case on charges of negligence, on suspicion that Rosseti staff failed to maintain the transmission lines in proper condition and did not respond promptly to emergency outages.

Regional authorities failed to resolve the power outages within the first 24 hours. On Saturday, January 24, rolling blackouts were introduced in some areas of Murmansk, and by the following day, a state of emergency was declared throughout the region. According to Governor Andrey Chibis, Rosseti specialists are working around the clock, but the situation is “complicated by adverse weather conditions and extremely difficult terrain.”

On January 26, Rosseti reported the installation of two temporary wooden towers to replace those that had collapsed. Parts for the towers are being transported to the installation site aboard all-terrain vehicles, assembled on the ground, and then erected, in some cases with the aid of a helicopter, the company said. Governor Chibis announced that it will take a week to complete the work of installing and connecting the main transmission towers.

Due to the blackouts, local businessowners and officials have opened support centers in the affected neighborhoods where people can charge phones, access boiling water, and heat up food. Long lines have formed at some of these locations. In Murmansk, some (but not all) support points are distributing food packages. Murmansk and Severomorsk have waived bus fare for all riders, and some educational institutions have suspended operations or switched to remote learning.

In total, more than a thousand homes in Murmansk alone faced the threat of their heating systems freezing due to the utility disruption, the governor said. Chibis has claimed that all residential buildings and public offices in the city were supplied with heat and water by January 26, and that a stable power supply had been restored to 80 percent of homes in Murmansk and Severomorsk.

However, local residents in the comments section of the governor’s Telegram channel have challenged this assessment, claiming that “half the city is without power” in Severomorsk. Just the day before, local authorities reported that 117 houses in the city remained without power as of the evening of January 25.

A reader told the news outlet 51.ru: “We’re cooking on a gas camping stove. Some people still have no water or heating. Others got it restored, but everything keeps shutting off. There’s no schedule for the power supply. They only say one exists, but no one has seen it.” The woman added that, due to the frequent outages and the cold, she was forced to leave her home with her small child and would stay with relatives or in a hotel.

Amid the power outages, there have also been reports throughout the region (1, 2, 3) of disruptions to mobile Internet service and access to the Telegram messenger app specifically. However, it remains unclear whether these outages are linked to the power failures or actions by the authorities.

Deputy Governor Olga Vovk says about 73,000 people are still affected, but she insists the outages are not continuous. “We’re switching them over,” Vovk said, claiming that “there are no homes that have been without power for a very long time.”

Murmansk authorities report that all critical infrastructure and strategic sites in the region now have power. Previous reports noted that the power failures extended to the main naval base of Russia’s Northern Fleet, forcing ships to shift to autonomous energy supplies.

Despite the scale and duration of the outages, national television networks have barely covered the situation in Murmansk, notes the independent outlet Agentstvo. Over the weekend and Monday morning, a full report on the region’s disaster aired only on Rossiya 1, and only once — on the morning of January 24. The entire segment was less than two minutes of the news broadcast.