Water supply crisis in Dagestan pushes protesters to block federal highway

Dagestan’s ongoing utilities crisis saw another major protest on Sunday night. The residents of Karaman-2, a settlement outside of the region’s capital Makhachkala, blocked the federal Makhachkala–Astrakhan highway, trying to draw attention to the dire water-supply situation in the area.

According to some participants, their homes had been without running water for the whole summer. Around 200 people took part in the protest according to the local police, halting highway traffic and clashing with the frustrated drivers.

On August 9, Makhachkala residents resorted to similar tactics to protest power supply disruptions that left many Dagestani homes without electricity for three days in a row, after a heat wave reportedly took out several power substations in the area.

The governor of Dagestan Sergey Melikov blamed the region’s power supply problems on the past 30 years of neglect for the infrastructure, telling residents that it would take several years to stabilize the grid. While expressing sympathy with those affected, Melikov also promised to prosecute protesters in the future.

After senior law-enforcement officers and 50 policemen arrived on the scene in Karaman-2 last night, the picket was disbanded and traffic resumed on the highway.