Military drafted in to fight cold spell in Moscow Region

MOSCOW, January 20 (RIA Novosti) - An electric power supply battalion of the Russian armed forces will deploy its mobile power stations to ensure uninterrupted supplies of electricity to the Moscow Region, a military official said Friday.

"We have deployed two mobile stations so far to provide electricity for the town of Chkalov [about 20 km from the center of Moscow]," said Nikolai Serdtsev, commander of the Russian Engineering Troops.

Serdtsev said the battalion had four power stations with 200-kW capacity, four stations with 100-kW capacity and four 75-kW stations.

It is the only unit in the Russian armed forces that can carry out such operations, he added.