Georgians shiver in energy crisis

Leader says the world should ‘wake up’ to Russian ‘threat’

Snow and freezing temperatures Thursday deepened the misery in Georgia, where millions were without power and a natural gas shortage forced people to chop wood for heat.

With the Caucasus Mountain nation suffering its worst energy crisis in years, President Mikhail Saakashvili cut short his trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland to try to assuage anxiety that sent residents into long lines to fill kerosene canisters for portable heaters.

..Kerosene prices have swiftly jumped 25 percent, to $6 per gallon — a sizable sum in the ex-Soviet republic, where monthly salaries average $25.

Saakashvili has complained about the slow pace of repairs to the pipeline and hinted that Russia was deliberately stalling to punish the country and its pro-Western policies of recent years — suspicions shared by many Georgians.”

Chron.com