"Only two such deep freezes have occurred in the past 100 years" in the western portion of Russia, the daily newspaper Gazeta said. "Once in 1940 and once in 1979, when the temperature fell to minus 40 degrees C" (minus 40 F).

Daytime temperatures in Moscow hovered around minus 30 C (minus 22 F) Thursday while they were expected to sink to around minus 37 C (minus 34 F) in the capital and closer to minus 40 C (minus 40 F) in the surrounding countryside overnight Thursday to Friday.

The state weather forecasting service said Thursday's temperature was the coldest January 19 recorded in Moscow since 1927. In that year, the mercury sank to minus 32 C (minus 25 F), one degree Celsius colder than this year.

Records were broken elsewhere. The ITAR-TASS news agency said the temperature dropped to minus 61 C (minus 78 F) in the north-central region of Yamalo-Nenetskiy, an all-time record low there. The cold there forced a halt to production at the Noyabrskneftegaz oil field.

Weather forecasters predicted a relative warming trend over the weekend -- when temperatures could "warm" to an average of minus 20 C (minus four F) -- but said the Arctic cold was likely to set in again next week and last through the remainder of January.

Another cold front was expected to settle over western Russia and "the deep freeze may continue in the capital until the end of January," Gazeta said, quoting the Fobos weather forecasting center.

In Moscow, city medical authorities said that seven people died as a result of exposure to the cold while another 25 people were hospitalized with hypothermia, Interfax news agency reported. A total of 93 people sought medical attention.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from cold from other cities and towns in Russia also experiencing unusually frigid weather.

Authorities however said they would continue a "strict" energy conservation regime including power cuts to non-essential factories and Moscow municipal authorities recommended that employers give staff days off on Thursday and Friday to save energy.

Meanwhile concern continued in Russia and Europe after the state-run energy giant Gazprom confirmed it had scaled back gas shipments to European clients as a result of the extraordinary demand.

Gazprom said it was fulfilling all contractual obligations but that it was not immediately able to meet demand over and above those levels due to surging consumption in Russia itself.

Italy was particularly affected by the cutback in Russian gas supply and Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola called an emergency meeting with energy companies to discuss the situation.

Transneft, the company that runs Russia's oil pipeline network, issued reassurances that pipeline oil transport would not be affected.

Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko however said preparations had been made to tap the country's fuel reserves to compensate for soaring domestic energy demand.

"We are currently using as much natural gas from storage facilities and wells as possible," Interfax quoted him as saying. Reserves of fuel oil and coal could also be used.

Interfax news agency said about 8,000 people were without heat late Wednesday in the Lyubertsy district outside Moscow because of a boiler breakdown which left 43 apartment blocks without heat.

Emergency measures were taken and by Thursday most of the apartments had heat restored, the report said. There were scattered reports of problems in other parts of the country that left thousands of people briefly without heat in their homes.

related report
Cold Wave Brings Disruption To New EU States In East Europe
Warsaw, Poland (AFP) Jan 19 - A cold wave brought disruption to the new EU member states of eastern Europe on Thursday, with public transport hit as electric tram wires snapped and children stayed home from school, with temperatures as low as minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit).

In Estonia, the authorities handed out extra food and clothing to homeless people in an effort to prevent deaths from hypothermia, said Marika Raiski, a spokeswoman for the social affairs ministry.

Homeless people were allowed to sleep at a number of train or bus stations during the cold spell, while shelters for the homeless that are usually open only at night kept their doors open 24 hours from Wednesday night.

The coldest temperature on Thursday, minus 30 C, was registered in the southeastern part of Estonia near the border with Russia.

In neighbouring Latvia, many schools were empty as parents kept their children at home as temperatures dropped to minus 30 degrees C Thursday morning in northern and eastern regions of the Baltic country.

According to Latvian law, children under 12 can skip school if temperatures fall to lower than minus 20 degrees C (minus four F).

In the western town of Liepaja, the local authorities said drivers could not start their buses and cars, particularly those running on diesel.

The Latvian environment, geology and meteorology agency said temperatures in some regions could fall to minus 32 degrees C (minus 25.6 F) in coming days, before rising on Monday.

In Lithuania, electric wires on trolley-buses in the capital Vilnius snapped and families reliant on gas heating complained of disrupted supplies as temperatures plunged to minus 27 C (minus 16.6 F) in some regions -- the coldest so far this year.

Judita Liukaityte, an expert from the Lithuanian hydrometeorological service, told AFP that temperatures were expected to drop to lower than minus 30 C and were likely to remain at that level until the middle of next week.

In Poland, 19 people died of exposure to cold in the last nine days, bringing to 122 the number who have fallen victim to freezing weather this winter, police said Thursday.

Fifty-two of the victims were homeless people, police spokeswoman Grazyna Puchalska told AFP. She added that around half of those who died were under the influence of alcohol.

Temperatures in the Polish capital Warsaw were comparatively mild at minus eight C (17.6 F) Thursday.

The IMIGW meteorological institute said it expected a drop to minus 14 C (6.8 F) on Friday, and a plunge to minus 20 C (minus four F) in daytime temperatures from Tuesday as a more severe cold wave hits next week.

Last winter, some 180 people died of cold in Poland, according to police statistics.

Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joined the European Union in 2004.

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