A resident of a Yakut village spent 6 hours firing back at Surgutneftegaz security guards because he was denied access to the company’s highway.

A resident of the Yakut village of Peleduy, Valery Leikin, blocked the technological highway to the oil fields of the Lensky region and for six hours fired back at the security service of Surgutneftegaz, which owns the highway. In winter, for residents of the village, this road remains the only way to get to the regional center. As explained to Mikhail Amuzinsky from the village of Vitim, neighboring Peleduy, Bloknot.Yakutsk, local residents have been fighting for the right to travel along the Surgutneftegaz technological road for three years. With the onset of winter, the winter road along the river, along which you can get to the regional center of Lensk, is covered with snow, and the technological route remains the only way to get to the city. “We have no other way to the hospital, BTI, social security, tax office except through oil workers,” explains the publication’s interlocutor. Instead of allowing villagers to use the highway, Surgutneftegaz installed a checkpoint on it, the guards of which “turn over the cars of local residents for any far-fetched reason,” says Amuzinsky. According to him, the security service charges trucks eight thousand rubles for travel, and now promises to increase the price to 30 thousand rubles. “In addition to the fact that we are actually cut off from the regional center, our people are not allowed to work in the oil fields. Anyone can come here to work, but our trucks have no place in the oil fields. I myself am involved in freight transportation and I can say this responsibly,” explains a resident of Vitim. According to Bloknot.Yakutsk, the day before, security guards once again refused to allow Peleduy resident Valery Leikin to pass through the checkpoint on the Vitim-Talakan highway leading to Lensk. The next day, the man blocked the highway with his Toyota Tundra, took out a traumatic pistol and began firing at the Surgutneftegaz security guards who were trying to drive him away. Six hours later, when the cartridges ran out, the driver surrendered to the arriving police. As local residents told the publication, Leikin is now being taken to court to choose a preventive measure. “What Valery did was caused by our common misfortune,” says Amuzinsky. “We cannot contact Valery to find out what help he needs,” he adds. According to the publication, the confrontation between local residents and oil workers, who do not allow the use of their roads, has also intensified on the section of the Aldan-Olekminsk technological route. However, for the first time, the conflict led to the use of weapons.