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Resources for Understanding the Moscow Blackout of 2005
Blackout Information
Investigations

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Blackout Information
  1. The Blackout of May 25, 2005: Reasons and the Cure. From the Anatoly Chubais presentation entitled "RAO UES Reform: The Final Stage" given at the IX Annual Equity Conference. (Jun 20, 2005).
  2. There Have Been Worse Blackouts. AO Mosenergo Interview with Yevgeny Ametistov, rector of the Moscow Power Industry University. (Jun 14, 2005)
  3. Possible sequence of events as updated by PSERC on June 20 (Note from PSERC: the exact sequence of events is not yet publicly available. What follows is based on the information available from media reports and RAO UESR press releases; however, many details of the sequence of events remain unclear or unknown.):
    1. Monday (5/23), 20:00: Small fire put out on one transformer.
    2. Tuesday (5/24), 21:17: 110kV, transformer explodes from overheating, damaging nearby equipment. Fires put out on four transformers. 220kV power supply disrupted to Moscow Oil Refinery, five adjoining Moscow districts and three factories.
    3. Tuesday (5/24), 21:30: Some reports say that the regional dispatcher (who reports to the main dispatch control center of Unified Energy Systems of Russia) decided to restore power using available capacity and lines. Another report is that no order came from the regional dispatch center. In any case, service to the oil refinery, which is normally supplied at 220 kV for its major electricity loads, is restored using just a 110kV line from Chagino (and also fed by Heat Power Plant #22 that is located in the village Kraskovo outside of Moscow). Other loads adjacent to the refinery are served from this line as well. Load at the oil refinery reported at 80MW. 110kV line capacity estimated at 100MW. That line also serves adjacent Moscow districts, so the line is heavily loaded.
    4. Wednesday (5/25), 05:31: Third Chagino transformer, on the 110kV line, fails. For a while longer, supply to the 110-kV line taken from another 500/110kV transformer. At some point, this transformer failed, but the timing is not clear. Note: In some cases, the term"failure" may simply mean that a protective device actuated rather than an actual equipment failure. One report is that only two transformers actually"failed."
    5. Wednesday, (5/25), Morning Hours: Transmission lines in the system become heavily loaded as electricity demand increases. Reports suggest that there was excessive transmission line sagging. Chagino is operating at reduced capacity because workers have been unable to complete repairs. One report says that Chagino had actually been disconnected from the grid by the time the outage occurred (not clear when this disconnection occurred or when the outage itself occurred). Extra demand for power to run air conditioning due to an early summer heat wave helps to overload the system. The temperature eventually rose to 87 degrees Fahrenheit, the hotest it has been on that date since 1891.
    6. Wednesday (5/25), 10:12: Six 220kV lines from Ochakovo high-voltage substation tripped: five"failed" due to"short circuits" and the other tripped due to"overload". Then, automatic protection systems trip the 220kV lines coming from Tula and Kaluga. When the 220kV system fails, a cascade begins in the 110kV network. Automatic protective devices actuated. Eventually, cascading outages leads to four out of seven Moscow electric power supply substations failing:"Noginsk" ( Southeast Moscow),"Pakhra" (Southwest of Moscow),"Kaluzhskaya" (Kaluga region), and"Mikhailovskaya" (Tula region). Also five Moscow power plants (No. 1, No. 17, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 22) go off-line and 15 more"supply centers" fail.
    7. Wednesday (5/25), 11:11:The central command post of the Strategic Rocket Forces automatically switches to emergency electricity supplies.
    8. Wednesday (5/25), Noon: Approximate time of the blackout affecting about 4 million people. At the outage's worst, a quarter of Moscow's consumption was cut off -- 90 percent in the Tula region and 22 percent in the Kaluga region. About 2,500 MW were interrupted in the Moscow area.
    9. Wednesday (5/25), possibly around 12:30: Outage development stopped in 2 hours and 20 minutes. Cascading outages limited to Moscow and surrounding regions.
    10. Wednesday (5/25), between 14:00 and 16:00: Power restored generally. Processes at the oil refinery and some other facilities not fully restarted.
    11. Wednesday (5/25), 18:00: The energy companies had restored power to all vital social facilities in the city of Moscow included in the list made by the Moscow City Government.
    12. Thursday (5/26), 12:00: System Operator removes all restrictions on the power supply to consumers.
    13. Thursday (5/26), 18:30: Power fully restored to all customers.
  4. Transformers that caused Moscow blackout more than 40 years old. Novosti. (Jun 20, 2005)
    The two transformers at the Chagino substation that caused the blackout in this city and its surrounding regions in May date back to 1958 and 1960. Chubais said that power losses in Moscow at around noon on May 25 had been registered at about 2,500 MW. He said this figure equaled a quarter of power consumption in Moscow at that time of the day. The accident affected at least four million people. A company probe established mistakes committed by operating personnel and a failure in the distribution network.
  5. Chubais Stays the Course on Power Reform. The Moscow Times. June 21, 2005)
    Also on Monday, UES presented its own evaluation of the blackout and possible solutions. At the outage's worst, a quarter of Moscow's consumption was cut off -- 90 percent in the Tula region and 22 percent in the Kaluga region.
  6. Anatoly Chubais Calls On Foreigners to Help. Kommersant. June 21, 2005)
    The main reason for the crash was not the fire on the Chagino substation, but old equipment that created the malfunction within the 110kV and 220kV [system]. As a protection measure from future blackouts, it was decided to transfer the 110kV system under the supervision of FSK [the regional dispatching organization]. Also, the multi-level scheme of control would be reduced to a three-level scheme with reinforced control. The modernization of equipment will be accelerated and the head electrical engineers will receive more independent decision-making powers. The final report will be presented at the board of director's meeting on June 24.
  7. Change of Guilty. Kommersant. June 16, 2005)
    UESR analysts say that “The blackout resulted from the synergy of a number of factors, each of which, if taken separately, wouldn’t have caused the accident of such scale,” said the experts. They asked to extend the term of investigation till June 18, “as the reasons of the galloping load pickup and overload of power lines could have stemmed from the changes in the reactive power flow and additional calculations and examination are needed.” The State Duma’s commission reported that the accident resulted from the failure of six power lines running from Ochakovo substation. To be more exact, only five lines had failed, while the sixth one died from the overload.
  8. Kommersant investigates the causes of the power crisis. Kommersant. (June 3, 2005)
  9. Investigation Starts with a Volt. Kommersant. (May 27, 2005)
  10. Chubais Unplugged . Kommersant. (May 26, 2005)
    > Given below is a possible sequence of events beginning at the six transformer, Chagino 500kv to 220kv/110kv substation. Beside Chagino there are six other electric power supply stations located around the Moscow Beltway. They are all connected to each other and create a ring transmission network which maintains power supply to Moscow, and its suburbs and neighboring regions.
    11. Chubais gave his own theory of the cause of the blackout, noting that he had given his subordinates two weeks to make a detailed analysis of the situation. According to Chubais, there were two reasons: the accident at the substation and the fire, which caused the wires to sag, and as a consequence of this, the automatic safeguards cut them off. “If it had been only the substation, we could have coped with the situation."
  11. Luzhkov to Finish Off Mosenergo. Kommersant. (Jun 15, 2005)
    The life time for more than 70 percent of the Moscow electric power substations with the voltage of 220 kV ended long ago, three more substations (500 kV) are loaded to such extent that it would be very hard to repair them, Vsevolod Pleshivtsev, who is in charge of the city's fuel and energy facilities, said Tuesday, predicting another crisis during the fall/winter heating season. To avoid it, Pleshivtsev suggested constructing additional 500 kV substations and creating the second power circle around Moscow with the voltage of 750 kV to use energy produced by Kalininskaya and Smolenskaya nuclear plants.
  12. President's economic advisor reviews causes of Moscow blackout. RosBusinessConsulting News Online. (Jun 2, 2005)
    One reason [for the rising probability of technogenic accidents] is the splitting of Mosenergo into 13 companies. The Chagino substation is owned by one company and operated by another.
  13. Man-Induced Catastrophe In Moscow: RAO UES did not Act on its Promises. NOVOSTI. (May 27, 2005)
    Early this year, Anatoly Libet, head of the Mosenergo client department, said,"Electricity systems are overloaded, just as the main transmission lines; the wires are glowing in some places. This means that any hike in the load at the generating systems and transmission lines can provoke a blackout at the power plant and the transfer of the load to a neighboring substation, which has no electricity reserves either." Many people noted that the Moscow government reduced by 30% allocations for the construction of social and engineering infrastructure in a bid to increase housing construction. Mikhail Korotkov, press secretary of Mosenergo, said on May 25 that housing construction proceeded at a fast pace in Moscow but was not complemented with the creation of new electricity supply systems.
  14. Power Goes Off in Moscow, 4 Regions. The Moscow Times. (May 26, 2005) The outage was caused by a fire late Tuesday that damaged a switchboard at the Chagino electricity transmission substation in Kapotnya, south of Moscow, said UES spokeswoman Tatyana Milyayeva. Repairmen worked overnight to fix the equipment but the switchboard failed as the city's electricity consumption grew Wednesday morning, she said. The equipment -- installed in 1963 -- could have worn out, she said. The city's other transmission substations became overloaded, causing them to automatically shut down one after another, Milyayeva said. Chubais also blamed the record heat for the accident, but he did not clarify how hot weather might have been at fault.
  15. Rush Day. Moscow Learns How to Do Without Electricity. Kommersant. (May 26, 2005)
    Yesterday’s electricity cut-off affected almost all agencies, services and enterprises of the city.
  16. Out of Darkness. Kommersant. (May 27, 2005)
    Yesterday Moscow and its suburbs were counting the losses from the major power failure on Wednesday. The main victims of the blackout were the poultry plants: due to the failure of electric supply there was a mass death of the birds. Also the sanitary-epidemical services in the Russian capital were brought to high alert because of the dumping of industrial pollutants in the water of the Moscow River. The authorities prohibited swimming in the river and water out of faucets could be contaminated by cholera and hepatitis A bacteria.
  17. No Dangerous Substances Concentrated In Atmosphere After Blackout. Novosti. (May 29, 2005)
    After the blackout in Moscow and the Moscow region, the Tula [100 miles south of Moscow], Kaluga [186 miles southwest of Moscow], and Ryazan [122 miles southeast of Moscow] regions, the chemical defense troops monitored the environment and discovered no excessive concentration of radioactive, chemical and biological elements in the atmosphere.
  18. RAO UES Statement on Results of Work of Emergency Headquarters. (May 26, 2005)
    ...work done by OAO"Mosenergo", the System Operator, and the Federal Grid Company was"crucial" to eliminating the consequences of the power outage. Also, the companies were instructed to restore, as soon as possible, permanent power supply to the Moscow Oil Refinery, which is now supplied with power on a temporary basis. The HQ also noted that there had been no sewage water discharges into the Moskva River.
  19. Moscow battles to restore power.CNN International. May 26.
    The outages began with an explosion and fire at a 40-year-old substation, underlining the poor condition of much of Russia's infrastructure. From there it spread in a cascade effect, reaching as far as the Tula region, 200 kilometers (120 miles) to the south. Russian media reported that some 2 million people were affected by the outage, but a deputy mayor, Valery Shantsev, said 5 million had suffered, Interfax said.
  20. Energy Giant Head Calls Blackout The Most Dramatic Accident . Novosti. (May 26, 2005)
    Power losses totaled 800 MW in the Moscow region alone.
  21. Moscow Paralyzed by Major Blackout (blackout in pictures). MOSNEWS.com. (May 25, 2005)
    The disaster began late Tuesday night, when a short circuit at the Moscow regional Chagino power plant caused a massive explosion that, in the words of energy officials, led to a cascade effect in the city and surrounding vicinities. ... the most likely explanation is worn-out equipment.
  22. Moscow Power Utility Says Blackout Caused By Fire. Prime-Tass.Com May 25."The Substation Staff Put Out The Fire Themselves But Due To The Increase In Power Consumption Wednesday Morning, The Accident Resulted In Power Cuts Across The City Affecting The Moscow, Kaluga And Tula Regions," Mosenergo Said.
  23. Russia's Chubais accepts blame for Moscow blackout Wednesday. PRIME-TASS.com. (May 25, 2005)
    Chubais said, citing preliminary estimates, that the power outage was caused by the failure of 12 or 13 power stations, adding that about 1.5 million to 2 million people suffered from the blackout.
  24. Moscow Blackout Stuns Press. BBC News. (May 26, 2005)
    Vremya Novostei is more worried by what the blackout says about the state of Russia's infrastructure."Russia's systems are so worn-out that the country exists in a permanent state of latent technical catastrophe," the paper concludes.
  25. Moscow Paralyzed by Major Power Cut, Muscovites Fear End of World. MOSNEWS.com. May 25, 2005
    “It’s the end of the world,” the Newsru.com website quipped, taking advantage of the fact that in Russian the word for both “light” and “world” is the same.
  26. Power supplies in Moscow to resume Thursday. (May 25, 2005)
Investigations and Legal Actions
  1. Luzhkov Wants Chubais to Invest, Not Offset. Kommersant. (Sep 7, 2005)
    In a letter addressed to Anatoly Chubais, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov proposed to CEO of RAO UES of Russia not to make up for damages attributed to the Moscow blackout of May 25, 2005, but to transfer the funds to repair power lines of the city.
  2. Russian Power Monopoly UES Facing $70M in Claims for Moscow’s May Blackout. Mosnews.com. (Aug 29, 2005.
  3. UES, City Hall Agree to Run Power Grid. The Moscow Times. (Jul 8, 2005)
    Anatoly Chubais, the embattled chief of Unified Energy Systems, has agreed with his longtime rival, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, to form a joint venture to manage the capital's entire electricity grid, UES said Thursday. The new 50-50 management company is intended to prevent a repeat of last May's blackout, which in part was blamed on the city's aging power distribution system.
  4. Human error is to blame for Moscow blackout. Pravda. (Jul 6, 2005)
    Results of a parliamentary inquiry aimed to find the reason for a blackout in Moscow have been made public on Wednesday. "The main reason for the large-scale energy crisis was the mistaken and inadequate actions of the control staff, both of (Unified Energy Systems) and its regional divisions," said Valery Yazyev, chairman of parliament's energy, transport and communications committee. "The fact is on the eve (of the accident) ... it was clear that the system was overloaded, but no advice on what needed to be done in these situations existed and the personnel at the substation weren't sufficiently alert," Yazyev said.
  5. Action Plan to Improve Reliability of the UES of Russia. Russia Newswire. (Jun 27, 2005)
    The Board of Directors of RAO "UES of Russia" heard and noted the results of the investigation by the Company's Task Force into the causes of the blackout in the Moscow energy system on 25-26 May 2005 and unanimously approved the guidelines of the action plan to increase reliability of the UES of Russia. To prevent similar blackouts in the future, the strategic business priorities will be adjusted....
    • Mosenergo Chief Seeks $500M in Investments. The Moscow Times. (Jul 1, 2005)
    • Russia's energy giant overhauls its management system.Novosti. (Jun 29, 2005)
      To prevent such situations in the future, the strategic and tactical management of the company are being overhauled, and, above all, safety and reliability requirements will be toughened. The holding company's chairman said that the holding's business strategy was being corrected, and priority would be assigned to modernization and technological re-equipment.
    • Moscow blackout not linked to energy reforms. RosBusinessConsulting. (Jun 29, 2005)
      At a meeting on June 24, 2005, RAO UES' board of directors concluded that the reason for the incident was the depreciation of equipment. In addition, the company's management and operating staff are also bearing responsibility for the crisis.
  6. UES Takes Troubleshooter On Board. The Moscow Times. (Jun 27, 2005)
    Boris Vainzikher Will Join Ues As Its First Chief Technical Manager, Ues Ceo Anatoly Chubais Said Friday At A News Conference.
  7. Ministry approves plan to enhance Russian energy system security. Novosti. (Jun 27, 2005)
    Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko has approved a plan to ensure the Russian energy system's security. The plan includes: replacing outdated infrastructure; set of technical regulations to ensure the safety and reliability of the electric and thermal power supply and the safe maintenance of nuclear power plants; special appraisal of UES personnel and those of independent electric companies; and enhancing supervision during the ongoing energy sector reform.
  8. Moscow blackout affected 6 million people. Novosti. (Jun 21, 2005)
    Vladimir Pekhtin, a deputy speaker of the State Duma (the lower chamber of parliament) and the head of a working group investigating the causes of the blackout, revealed this figure referring to information provided by the Emergencies Situations Ministry. Pekhtin said the working group had received the ministry's final report on how it dealt with an accident at the Chagino substation outside Moscow. "The power cuts ... some 6 million indirectly," Pekhtin said. "The working group is continuing to investigate the causes of the power cuts and deputies expect to receive similar final reports from other commissions," he added.
  9. No explosive traces found at blackout substation. interfax. (Jun 17, 2005)
    The Moscow prosecutor's office told Interfax this the conclusion of an expert examination conducted as part of the criminal investigation into the massive power outages.
    • Chechen Warlord Says He Caused Moscow Blackout. New York Times International. (May 27, 2005)
      Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev said on Friday that his rebels had attacked an electricity substation, triggering Wednesday's major power outage in Moscow, the rebel Web site www.kavkazcenter.com said. "The result of our special operation exceeded our expectations," Basayev was quoted as saying. The Kremlin, which says the blackout was caused by technical problems, promptly rejected his claim. "This is ridiculous," said Dmitri S. Peskov, a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin. "This kind of statement from this criminal cannot be taken seriously."
  10. Caught by the Inner Circle. The Moscow Times. (Jun 15, 2005)
    Arkady Yevstafyev resigned earlier this month as the head of Mosenergo, the capital's main supplier of heat and electricity, after the release of a report prepared by the Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Atomic Supervision on the blackout that struck Moscow in late May.
  11. Sabotage not suspected in Moscow blackout. AP. (Jun 10, 2005)
    The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, said that an investigation found no indication that the substation had been sabotaged, the Interfax news agency reported.
  12. Moscow prosecutor: losses from power outage reach nearly US$60 million. Pravda. (Jun 9, 2005)
    Vladimir Pekhtin, the head of the Moscow parliamentary commission investigating the outage, however, asserted that the Chagino substation was not the source of the outage, saying it had been disconnected from the network at the time the outage began.
  13. Russian State Duma looks into recent Moscow blackout. M&C News. Jun 9, 2005
    The State Duma has launched a parliamentary probe into the Moscow energy crisis. At the first meeting we shall discuss the initial circumstances and causes of the outage but the most important thing is to find ways and means to avoid similar problems in the future.
  14. Introductory Remarks by President Putin at an Expanded Meeting of the Security Council. President of Russia Official Web Portal. Jun 4, 2005
    ....there have been increasingly frequent breakdowns in the electricity system of late.... This all points to clear systemic management problems.
    • Putin Criticizes Power Co. After Outage. AP. (Jun 4, 2005)
      President Vladimir Putin criticized the leadership of the nation's power grid Saturday over one of Russia's largest power blackouts, accusing the state-controlled company of incompetence and calling for an audit of its investment and tax records.
  15. Mosenergo general director Arkady Yevstafyev resigns. Itar-Tass. Jun 4, 2005
    Mosenergo general director Arkady Yevstafyev and his deputy for economic issues Vladislav Nazin resigned, sources in the Unified Energy System of Russia (UES) told Itar-Tass on Saturday.
  16. City Prosecutors Call In Chubais Ally. The Moscow Times. (May 31, 2005)
    The city prosecutors' office said that the damaged transformers at the Chagino electricity substation, which caught fire and sparked power outages across Moscow and four surrounding regions, had been sent to forensic experts for examination. Izvestia on Monday reported an unnamed source at Moscow's City Hall as saying that officials had provisionally calculated the damages at more than $70 million.
  17. Putin tells Khristenko to draft report on Moscow blackout. interfax. (May 30, 2005)
    President Vladimir Putin has instructed Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko to draft a report on the Moscow blackout for the Saturday meeting of the Security Council.
  18. Audit of Russian National Electricity Company Starts. Daily Bulletin. (May 30, 2005)
    The Russian Audit Chamber has begun to check the use of all funds provided for Russian national electricity utility UES for repairs and reconstruction, Chamber auditor Mikhail Beskhmelnitsyn said on Monday. "The Audit Chamber will pay special attention to the investment program that is approved on an annual basis by the Russian government," Beskhmelnitsyn said.
  19. Prosecutors question Mosenergo CEO 6 hours over power crisis. ITAR-TASS News Agency. May 30, 2005
    Anatoly Chubais admitted, “The incident is the responsibility of RAO UES and of the board chairman personally”. In his words, the incident at the Chagino power substation, which is critical to electricity supplies in Moscow, happened at 9.17 p.m. (1717 GMT) on May 24. In the morning of May 25, many power lines slacked because of hot weather and, since the substation was already operating at reduced capacity, resulted in cascade-type power failures.
  20. Russia's power chief says won't quit over blackout. Reuters. (May 28, 2005)
    Anatoly Chubais, chief executive of Unified Energy Systems, said his enemies were using the blackout, which halted public transport and stopped trading at Moscow's bourses, to wage a political campaign against him.
  21. RAO UES Board of Directors Holds its Regular Meeting. UESR. (May 27, 2005)
    Anatoly Chubais said that a Task Force formed at RAO "UES of Russia" was conducting an investigation into the causes of the power outage at the Chagino substation which triggered a cascade effect. According to the commission given to it, the task force is to complete its work and produce a report within two weeks.
  22. Moscow Prosecutors Question Staff Of Chief Energy Facilities. Novosti. (May 28, 2005)
    The Moscow Prosecutor's Office questioned officials of RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia (the country's energy monopoly) and Mosenergo (Moscow energy utility) on Friday, RAO UES said. The May 24 malfunction at the Chagino substation in Moscow caused power cuts in five administrative districts of Moscow, as well as in the Moscow, Kaluga and Tula regions. The outage paralyzed public transport bringing 43 metro trains to a standstill. Suburban and passenger trains were stopped on 656 routes. All in all, 11,706 buildings, including 8,715 residential blocks, 117 kindergartens, 106 schools, 3 boarding-schools, 31 hospitals, 3 aeration station, 159 telephone exchanges and 3 important water supply stations suffered from the outage.
  23. Moscow Mayor Counts Blackout Losses, Lays Blame On UES. Novosti. (May 28, 2005)
    Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that Moscow had suffered severe losses as a result of the May 25 power outage. "The UES management is very bad and inefficient. The disastrous accident unfolded not only because of the fire at the Chagino transmission substation but also because of a substandard condition of the UES power traffic control," Luzhkov said.
  24. Official says blackout may have cost Moscow $1 billion. Prime-Tass. (May 26, 2005)
    The economic costs of Wednesday’s blackout in Russia’s capital Moscow may total over U.S. $1 billion, an official with the city’s administration told ITAR-TASS Thursday. “Of course, we don’t have any exact figures, but must take into account that almost half the city was shut down - stores and businesses were all paralyzed,” the official said. “There was also a major transportation disruption that shut down the metro and railroad lines,” the official added.
  25. Moscow blackout damage tops $15 million. Gateway to Russia. (May 27, 2005)
    Direct damage suffered by Moscow companies in the consumer sector, including retail chains and food producers, as a result of the electricity blackout on Wednesday, may top $15 million, said Valentin Krokhin, an analyst at RBC. He said total damage caused to companies in this sector, including indirect losses, may significantly inflate this figure, and, consequently, the total amount of lawsuits against RAO Unified Energy Systems of Russia.
  26. Let’s Bill Chubais. Kommersant. (May 27, 2005)
    Vycheslav Dudka, governor of Tula Region, said that a special commission on the calculation of damages involving the Prosecutor General’s Office was to be created. The governor said at yesterday’s session of the region’s legislature that he would demand RAO EUS of Russia fully recoup the region for the damages suffered from the energy system failure.
  27. Moscow Region To Sue UES For Blackout Damages. Novosti. (May 27, 2005)
    The Moscow Region will demand damages from the UES, or United Russian Power Grid, electric monopoly, regional vice-governor Alexei Panteleyev said to Mayak radio today. The blackout hit 42 settlements with a total population of four million.
  28. City bosses "want hands on power utility". Gateway to Russia. (May 27, 2005)
    Moscow authorities look set to use the energy blackout crisis in the capital this week in a new move to grab control of the city’s power system, Vremya Novostei newspaper reported. The administration had repeatedly accused Mosenergo management of seeking to inflate profit by cutting investment in the modernization of aging infrastructure, neglecting safety concerns and ignoring citizens’ interests, the paper’s article said. Separately, Chubais told reporters on Thursday that damage caused by Wednesday’s blackout should and would be compensated in full. Damage caused to the generating sub-station at Chagino, where an explosion led to the breakdown, was insured against. Compensation was determined at law for damage incurred by consumers, Chubais said.
  29. Russia's Politics of 'Power'. UPI. CRM. May 27, 2005
    As head of UES, Anatoly Chubais is faced with two daunting challenges: to modernize the energy grid that is over 40 years old and to make the company competitive in a market economy. Modernizing the grid has proven almost impossible. As a majority owned state company, the government has refused annual budget requests to invest in infrastructure while not allowing the company to increase energy tariffs to cover many operating costs. For much of the political elite and average Russian citizen, the restructuring of UES is painfully reminiscent of what went wrong in Russia during the first decade of market reforms -- and Anatoly Chubais was the center of those reforms. For an overview of the proposed power sector reforms see Presentation by Anatoly Chubais, Chief Executive Officer, RAO UES of Russia: "RAO UES Reform: The Final Stage" (April 6-13, 2005, London)
  30. Putin Blames UES Power Monopoly for Moscow Outage. The Moscow News. May 25, 2005
    President Vladimir Putin blamed the management of Russian power monopoly Unified Energy System for the major power outage, the Reuters news agency reported. “They should work not only on global problems about company policy and its restructuring, but also pay attention to current activity,” the Russian agency Interfax quoted Putin as saying. Russia’s electricity monopoly RAO UES said the outage had hit between 10 and 12 percent of capacity in Moscow and the surrounding region.
  31. Chubais to be Questioned at 4 pm Over Moscow Blackout. Novosti. (May 26, 2005)
    "Moscow prosecutors have opened a criminal case on "abuse of power in profit-making organizations" and "negligence" after the power blackout affected companies, organizations, and dwelling areas, which caused serious damage and grossly violated the rights and legal interests of people, organizations and the state," said the spokesman.
  32. Blackout In Moscow Bodes Political Disaster For Chubais. Novosti. (May 26. Chubais remains a prominent "shadow" figure for possible united rightist-liberal opposition. The Kremlin team (and especially its "security-related" section) is therefore tempted to replace Chubais with a loyal head during the next UES annual shareholders' meeting in June. The state also owns a controlling stake in the company.
  33. Duma to probe recent blackouts. interfax. (May 27, 2005)
    The Russian Duma will set up a working group to investigate the latest power outages in Russia, including Wednesday's accident at Mosenergo's Chagino sub-station.
  34. Electricity Fully Restored Across Moscow. Newsday. May 26, 2005
    A human rights advocacy group alleged the prosecutor's case against UES was politically motivated. (See also Report: UES to Sell Mosenergo Early ).
  35. Crime probe after Moscow blackout. BBC News. (May 25, 2005)
    The discomfort was made worse by the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the year so far with record temperatures, over 30C - and without the electricity to power air conditioning systems. Nationalist MPs in the State Duma said they were preparing a resolution calling for the resignation of Mr Chubais, who made many enemies in the 1990s for his key role in government when major state-run industries were being privatised. Correspondents say that while the former deputy prime minister generally refrains from open criticism of the Kremlin, he has been one of the few public figures to condemn the prosecution of tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Many of his political associates are in open opposition to Mr Putin. Mr Chubais survived an assassination attempt in March, which some blamed on his recent plans to reform the energy sector.
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