Translated material
At a rapid pace
Russian gas supplies to Georgia are expected to resume today
According to calculations by the North Ossetian Ministry of Emergency Situations, gas supplies to Georgia should be resumed today via one of two gas pipelines blown up by unknown saboteurs over the weekend near the Russian-Georgian border. At least yesterday, specialists working on site reported the completion of welding work on the Mozdok-Tbilisi highway.Over the past few days, restoration work in the area of the Upper Lars border crossing, where on Sunday night unknown persons used powerful mines to destroy the main (North Caucasus-Transcaucasia) and reserve (Mozdok-Tbilisi) lines of the export gas pipeline, has been carried out around the clock. In an extremely short time, a temporary road was built across the Terek, a site was arranged for placing special equipment near the damaged area, and pipes were delivered. About 60 people were involved in the restoration of the gas pipeline - specialists from Gazprom enterprises from the Stavropol Territory and equipment from the Mozdok Line Management of Trunk Gas Pipelines.
In fact, the Ministry of Emergency Situations only hoped to finish the welding work on Tuesday, as originally planned. On Monday, gas workers were not allowed to start welding pipes by weather conditions - frost and wind gusts of up to 20 m/sec. On Tuesday morning, another problem occurred at the repair site - from the Georgian side, gas condensate began to leak through a plug in the pipe, which created the danger of an explosion. As a result, as reported yesterday by the North Ossetian Ministry of Emergency Situations, workers managed to install a new blocking device and pump out the condensate only by 16.00. After which the repairmen were still able to finish welding the main pipe. “On Wednesday night they will start supplying compressed air into it, and then gradually pumping in gas,” noted the republic’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
At the site of another emergency - in Karachay-Cherkessia, where the Kavkasioni high-voltage power line, which supplied electricity to Georgia, was also blown up on Sunday night - according to the forecasts of specialists from RAO UES of Russia, restoration work will begin only today and will last ten days. This was announced yesterday by Boris Zverev, a representative of a subsidiary of RAO UES - the company Inter RAO UES. He clarified that on Wednesday a special commission of the Gruzrosenergo company will arrive at the scene of the incident and calculate the damage caused. In the meantime, according to Mr. Zverev, “law enforcement agencies continue to work on the disabled 12th kilometer of the inaccessible Karachaevsk-Uchkulan section of the Kavkasioni power line, so construction workers are not allowed there yet.”
Yesterday it became known that the investigation group of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation for the Southern Federal District will investigate the explosions of the Kavkasioni power line supports in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and gas pipelines in North Ossetia. Yesterday, all the collected materials on criminal cases, which the prosecutor's offices of both republics opened after the emergency, were already transferred to the disposal of the joint investigative group.
Throughout yesterday, detectives and sappers continued to inspect the site of pipeline and power line explosions. Criminal cases already number one volume each. It included videotapes recording the inspection of the crime scene and seized evidence. In particular, about 15 kg of unexploded plastic was found at the site of the power line explosion in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Criminal cases have not yet been combined into one proceeding (in the prosecutor's office of North Ossetia, gas pipeline explosions were regarded as “deliberate destruction of property”, and in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, power line explosions were regarded as “terrorism”). Investigators claim that they have no evidence that all these crimes could have been committed by the same criminals.