War in Ukraine No Time to Talk about Fixing Elevators Even in High-Rise Buildings, Officials Tell Residents of Nine-Story Apartment Building without Them

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 8 – Vladimir Putin has worked hard to convince Russians that his war in Ukraine is being carried out by professionals and that it doesn’t affect them. But increasingly, that conflict is coming home to roost, albeit often in ways that likely seem marginal to outsiders but have a profound impact on the population.
    An example of this is to be found in the case of a nine-story apartment building in Tula where neither of the elevators works and people have had to use the stairs since 2005 when the elevators stopped functioning. Officials have told residents who’ve asked to have them fixed that wartime isn’t the time to talk about that (thenewtab.io/lifta-net-no-vy-derzhites/).
    Worse, these same officials have suggested that it may be another decade before either of the elevators will be fixed. Such comments may not lead residents to go into the streets to protest the Putin regime, but they will fuel anger at the state he heads and make it less likely that they will enthusiastically support it, especially if they have to use the stairs every day.