In the village of Popovo in the Chelyabinsk region, home to more than 600 residents, spring flooding of the Uvelka River effectively cuts people off from the outside world every year. Ambulances and fire services cannot get through, and food deliveries to local shops are made at personal risk. Residents must cross to the other bank via an aging suspension bridge from the 1970s or use a dangerous unfinished concrete structure.
According to 74.ru, the regional Ministry of Roads and Transport attributes the flooding to “topographical features” and says it happens every year but only briefly. In 2025, an обход route through the village of Varlamovo was built, but residents say its surface is poor and that after rainfall it turns into mud impassable even for special vehicles.
Construction of a full bridge over the Uvelka began back in 2007, but work stopped after the 2008 financial crisis. Only supports on the two banks and an unreliable base were put in place. In 2017, about 900,000 rubles were allocated for state expert review, while the full construction cost was estimated at about 100 million rubles. The project documentation is only now being prepared for a new expert review.
For years, residents have appealed to local authorities, Governor Alexey Teksler, and even Vladimir Putin’s direct line. After one such appeal, the People’s Front visited Popovo in May 2024 and said it had sent a complaint to the prosecutor’s office. Despite reports that the bridge would be completed, construction has still not started.
“We do not have wings, what are we supposed to do?”; “No vehicle will get through”; “Residents are already preparing a collective complaint to oversight bodies,” villagers said in appeals and social media posts over the years.
In June 2023, a court found former head of the Varlamovo rural settlement Elena Burgucheva guilty of abuse of office and official forgery in a case tied to the bridge’s design documents. According to the court, the damage to the budget exceeded 1.7 million rubles. On March 31, 2026, after media reports and residents’ complaints, the Investigative Committee opened an inquiry and then a criminal case on negligence. Investigators say local officials failed to provide the village with the transport infrastructure it needed in time.