CHITA, Southern Siberia. Sept 20 (Interfax-AVN) - A few weeks before cold weather sets in, Siberian energy producers once again started trying to make the military pay back debts by threatening that they would cut off energy supplies.
"A pressure act has been carried out by the Novosibirskenergo company. It has cut off hot water supplies to more than 80 apartment blocks of the defense ministry and suspended the beginning of the heating season," the press service of the Siberian military district told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
"More than 10,000 servicemen and their family members who pay utility bills regularly have become hostages to the monopolists in energy production," a press service official stressed.
The energy producers are trying to make the district's housing operation departments reimburse them for benefits that servicemen were entitled to before July 2002. In accordance to federal laws, the servicemen had a 50 percent discount on utility payments. Under the government resolution dated April 20,2002, administrations and governments of Russian regions are to reimburse the energy makers for the provision of benefits to the servicemen out of target allocations from the federal budget.
According to data provided by the Siberian military district's housing operation department, the Novosibirsk region has obtained RUB42.5m (USD1.34m) for this purpose out of the federal budget. However the regional administration did not transfer the funds to the energy producers, claiming that the Defense Ministry's main military budget and financing department was to handle the reimbursement.
The press service said that "high-ranking officials of the Novosibirsk garrison's housing operation bodies are getting ready to sue the energy producers."