The Kremlin saw a video where the governor demanded that residents of Orsk remove their phones

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin watched a video in which the governor of the Orenburg region, Denis Pasler, at a meeting with residents of Orsk, ordered them to put away their phones so that they would not film anything. The Kremlin did not comment on the tone of the governor’s communication with local residents.

Yesterday, April 8, Mr. Pasler met with an initiative group of protesters in Orsk. Residents were dissatisfied with the support measures provided against the backdrop of severe flooding, and also complained about low payments to victims. Before the meeting, the governor told those present three times to “put away all their phones.”

“Yes, we saw it. I repeat, intense work is being carried out with the population. All leadership (region— “Ъ”) – municipal, district, regional – is in direct contact with the population. Contacts are being carried out under rather difficult conditions, and the population is being provided with all the necessary assistance,” Mr. Peskov said during a press call.

On April 5, the Ural River broke through an embankment dam and flooded several districts of the Orenburg city of Orsk. Mayor Vasyl Kozupitsa promised 100 thousand rubles to all families affected by the flood. As of today, April 9, from Orsk evacuated 2.5 thousand people, throughout the Orenburg region – almost 6.5 thousand people. Regional authorities expectthat the river flood will reach its peak tomorrow, April 10. To the region again arrived Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation Alexander Kurenkov.

How Orsk is surviving the flood – in a Kommersant report “”The picture is bad there now, it’s not worth swimming unless necessary…””.

Laura Keffer