An unusually harsh winter that resulted in severe disruption to powerlines in Russian capital Moscow is now threatening to further undermine normal life in the region, including the functioning of its main airport, reports said on Monday.
Some 8000 travelers were stranded at the busy Domodedovo airport last week when erratic power supply seriously affected its functioning resulting in hundreds of flights getting canceled or delayed.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pulled up officials and asked them to postpone their New Year holiday until the problem was resolved.
Russian media reported that although power had been restored to Moscow by Saturday, gale-force winds and more snow left some villages without power.
Meanwhile,authorities have despatched an emergency team to Domodedovo to deal with the situation in the event of another sudden power failure.
The Interfax news agency quoted a spokeswoman of the Domodedovo airport as saying that the airport has been running its flight operations as per schedule.
Last week's snow showers, which uprooted trees and brought down power lines, had resulted in flight chaos at Sheremetyevo, another major airport in Moscow.
According to some reports, thousands of residents of Tver, north-west of Moscow, have been forced to go without power due to heavy snow.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com