 MOSCOW – Muscovites were battling on Monday to clear away the stubborn snowfall that had arrived to the Russian capital and caused travel disruption in recent days. Images showed would-be drivers digging vehicles out of the snow, as well as an apparent opportunist manning a stall stocked up with warm clothing on the side of a snow-covered road. “Moscow sees the heaviest snowfall in 100 years,” declared a tweet on Moscow’s mayor official account. “Up to eight centimeters of snow will fall in the next three days.” Moscow’s deputy mayor for housing, utilities and amenities, Pyotr Biryukov, said in a statement that the Russian capital had not seen so much snow in a century. “Some 1.2 million cubic meters of snow have been removed from Moscow streets since yesterday,” Biryukov said, adding that efforts to clear it away would continue and more crews had been dispatched to that end. The statement said more than 5,000 utility members were clearing away snow near metro stations, main roads had been cleared and public transport systems were not experiencing disruption. However, efforts to remove the snow were “complicated by a sharp drop in temperature and the ongoing snowfall,” according to the statement, which added that strong winds, blizzards and black ice were also on the cards for the coming days. Road conditions and continued adverse weather conditions meant that schools were running on flexible schedules, according to Moscow city authorities. |