A shabby Christmas tree in Altai was considered a real symbol of the year

Residents of Zarinsk, in the Altai Territory, disagreed about the ability of local officials to prepare for one of the year’s major holidays. A New Year tree has just appeared on the square in the center of the city – tall, slender, or rather, skinny, as many thought. The tree had not yet been decorated with toys and tinsel, which would distract the attentive eye from the shortcomings of the Christmas tree, and the New Year’s beauty appeared half-naked before the zarinchans – with a shabby right side, from which bare branches protruded like ribs.

“This is not the final version. They will also add branches and decorate the spruce,” – declared “Rise” in the city administration.

Officials noted that they would decorate the fir tree as soon as the weather allowed – so far it is minus 33 in these parts. And they assured that they had not spent a penny of budget money on a bald tree.

“She shaded our houses at Metallurgists, and the residents asked to cut down, so this Christmas tree was used for free,” the mayor’s office said.

Meanwhile, in local publics, the townspeople are arguing fiercely. Some accuse dissatisfied neighbors of being “spoiled” and remind that times are not easy these days. Others are outraged by the cutting down of green spaces and demand that the mayor’s office buy a reusable artificial Christmas tree once.

“Drag her from Lapland perli?” – asks one of the participants in the discussion. Another noticed that peeled branches were lying around under the spruce – probably, it was they that were missing in the final composition.

But many took the Zarinsky tree positively, as a real symbol of the outgoing 2022: “What a year, such a tree!”