Paul Goble
Staunton, July 25 – Abnormally high temperatures in Russia/s South undoubtedly are playing a role in the brownouts and blackouts the region has suffered, but an even more important factor is impact of Putin’s war in Ukraine, according to Russian experts and politicians.
That conflict has led to a sharp increase in the consumption of energy by plants in the military-industrial sector of the Russian economy, and rising electricity use as a result of Russia’s turn to the east where the distances that must be traversed are far greater than those to Europe (istories.media/stories/2024/07/25/pochemu-yuzhnie-regioni-rossii-ostalis-bez-sveta/).
In the face of mounting protests about power shortages, the Kremlin had insisted that high temperatures are to blame, lest Russians focus on these factors or on the failure of the Russian government to modernize its electrical grid so that the system can handle increased demand.
The Putin regime has been cutting back spending on modernizing of the power system and other parts of infrastructure for some time and not just since February 2022; but it has reduced support for such projects since that time and so that is yet another reason why Putin’s war in Ukraine more than anything else is behind power shortages.
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