Electrical supply cut off to Russian missiles
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.RUSSIA'S Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, yesterday vowed to punish the 'brainless clerks' of the Moscow electricity authority who cut off power to Russia's strategic nuclear missile command centre because the military had failed to pay its electricity bills.
The incident was far from funny, according to the head of the missile command, who said that if officers had not switched on a back-up power system, control of the former Soviet Union's deadly arsenal could have been 'considerably complicated'.
'There are no words in the Russian language, even unprintable ones, to describe what happened,' RIA news agency quoted Commander Igor Sergeyev as saying. 'You cannot even imagine how much switching off the electricity threatened the security of the country.'
Like many state industries, the Russian military is short of money and has been making ends meet by delaying paying bills. A Defence Ministry spokesman admitted that the Moscow electricity authority, Mosenergo, was owed 50 billion roubles ( pounds 13 million).
On Wednesday, Mosenergo officials lost their patience and cut off supplies to the missile command, which is located just outside Moscow. It seems the Mosenergo bureaucrats, led by Pavel Siyukov, who must now be sweating over their future, did not at first realise the seriousness of their action. But the swift and furious government response must have brought it home to them. 'The person guilty of this outrage will be punished today,' Mr Chernomyrdin fumed.
Yesterday Mosenergo tried to claim that it had not known the nature of the installation it was cutting off, but the missile command press spokesman, Vladimir Krivomazov, said this was nonsense as the bureaucrats had sent an advance warning of the power cut.
There was no immediate reaction in the West to news of the incident, but world leaders are likely to be very concerned about it. President Boris Yeltsin will almost certainly face questions from John Major and Bill Clinton when he visits Britain and the United States later this month.
The former Soviet nuclear arsenal, with enough warheads to wipe out most of the world, passed into Russian control when the empire collapsed in 1991.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments