Christmas time in Russia means the landscape is covered in a blanket of snow, but last Christmas in the region of Kemerovo, the blanket wasn’t so white.
Kemerovo is a coal-mining region in Siberia and the extent of the soot and ash pollution from the coal industry was brought to light when a woman posted a video on social media of herself making a snowman, only to get white paint all over her hands.
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The snow was evidently grey from the pollution, so authorities reportedly covered it up, by painting the snow white.
The head of the town said he had reprimanded those responsible for painting the snow and removed the paint from the snow hill.
“I apologise to the townspeople whose New Year’s mood was spoiled by this,” Dmitry Ivanov said in a statement.
Watch the full video below.
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