Putin Assails Transit Officials for Response to Ice Storm at Airports

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia chastised senior transportation officials on Wednesday for failing to respond adequately to widespread cancellations and delays at Moscow’s two major airports in the wake of an ice storm last weekend. He ordered the officials to call off their plans for the traditional 10-day New Year’s holiday — Russia’s most important — to prevent similar problems in the coming weeks.

Power failures and other weather-related troubles all but shut the airports earlier this week, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Many were angered by a lack of information, and there were reports of disturbances and even attacks on airport workers. State television showed scenes of passengers mounting protests and chanting slogans against the management of the two airports, Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo.

On Tuesday, President Dmitri A. Medvedev told prosecutors to examine whether the authorities had mishandled the response to the ice storm, which occurred when an unusual warming melted snow and caused rain. That was followed by freezing temperatures that left a thick coat of ice everywhere and took down electrical lines.

Mr. Putin seemed eager to signal his concern about what had happened. “Of course, the situation is complicated, and not everything is our fault,” Mr. Putin said at a meeting with transportation officials. “But we shouldn’t moan about it. Everyone needs to get to work.”

He criticized the airports for communicating poorly with passengers. “Domodedovo because of accidents had its electricity cut off, and people continued to arrive at the airport,” he said. “What warnings were there? Zero! And more than 8,000 people massed there. What kind of operations are that?”

Over the summer, the Moscow region suffered a record heat wave and was blanketed by smoke from forest fires in the suburbs. City officials were condemned for being unprepared.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/world/europe/30moscow.html