New York Times - August 29th

MOSCOW (AP) -- Moscow's giant television tower is the latest symbol of Russian pride to fall, devastated by a fire that cast a light on the nation's increasingly decrepit infrastructure and plunging safety standards.

The blaze, which killed three people and cut most television broadcasts in the Moscow region after it broke out Sunday, follows the deaths of 118 sailors aboard the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk.

The Aug. 12 disaster in the Barents Sea exposed decay in Russia's once-mighty navy and brought the strongest domestic and international criticism yet of the administration of President Vladimir Putin.

From gas explosions in crumbling apartment buildings to airplane crashes, disaster has become commonplace in Russia, making the one-time superpower and technological leader seem like a perpetual calamity zone.

Prolonged economic decline has brought decay, with the nation unable to replace or maintain its Soviet-era machinery. Wear-and-tear on Russia's aging infrastructure has been exacerbated by sloppiness, lack of training and theft.

``This emergency highlights what condition vital facilities, as well as the entire nation, are in,'' Putin said Monday at a government meeting called to discuss the fire. ``Only economic development will allow us to avoid such calamities in the future.''

The 1,771-foot Ostankino Tower, erected in 1967 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, was a prominent Moscow landmark and symbol of Soviet technology.

``It wasn't simply a tower,'' the Vremya MN daily commented Tuesday. ``It was the symbol of an epoch that now, it seems, has passed for good.''

But the tower had become overloaded in recent years, broadcasting new channels and serving government communications.

``They kept putting new equipment on the tower, adding to the strain,'' said Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi. ``We are dealing with the legacy of the past -- most of our machinery is 30 years old or older.''

Government officials acknowledged that the tower was working 30 percent beyond its capacity. It had never been renovated and its safety system was unable to squelch a fire that appeared to have been caused by a simple short-circuit.

Broadcasts outside the Moscow region were not affected, but the television blackout in the capital is expected to last several days, leaving many of Moscow's 15 million residents in the dark.

After the blast, 31-year-old businessman Yuri Kozlov said, ``I had a weird feeling, as if we suddenly became isolated from the rest of the world.''

Along with television broadcasts, the blaze affected some government communications and disabled several paging companies.

The government warns that Russians face disaster everywhere, from airplanes to coal mines, because the country cannot afford to keep dilapidated facilities running safely. The Emergency Situations Ministry issued an apocalyptic forecast this year that said the nation was vulnerable to myriad technological disasters, including fires, collapsing buildings, pipeline ruptures, radiation leaks and toxic spills.

Much of Russia's industrial equipment could come to a virtual standstill by 2005-2007, ministry experts warned.

In Soviet times, safety rules were followed because of discipline and the fear of punishment. Now there is an alarming tendency to neglect safety rules and minimize or dismiss danger.

Planes frequently crash because pilots overload them with extra cargo for bribes. Natural gas explosions rip through apartment buildings because of poor maintenance. Fires or explosions rock rural areas because people hack holes into oil pipelines to siphon fuel.

Other areas are left without electricity after power lines are looted by thieves. Hundreds are electrocuted every year while trying to pilfer communication wires, electric cables and train and plane parts to sell as scrap.