Author of the article: Washington Post Liz Sly, The Washington Post Date of publication: 27 Apr 2022 • 9 hours ago • 4 minutes reading • 65 Comments A woman appears to be hovering in a toy set with a child on her knees as they watch the fire burn. Photo by Twitter / NEXTA
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Unexplained fires at strategic locations in Russia, including a sensitive defense research site and the country’s largest chemical plant, have raised suspicions of some form of sabotage, although there is no evidence that most were not accidental.
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The latest fire at two oil depots in the Russian city of Bryansk, near the Ukrainian border, was caused by explosions on Monday, Russian media reported. The loss of the site could disrupt vital oil supplies on the northeastern front of the Ukraine war, where Russian troops are making an effort to seize territory in the Donbas region. Footage shared on social media of one of the blasts suggests it was caused by “an air strike or rocket fire,” according to a tweet from Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. The depots are less than 100 miles from Ukraine, within range of that country’s regular Tochka ballistic missiles, Lee said. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declined to comment. “The Russian Federation is responsible for what is happening on Russian soil,” he said. “They should state the reasons for what is happening, not us.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said Russia was still investigating the cause of the fires.
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“If you (Russians) decide to attack another country en masse, to kill everyone there en masse, to crush peaceful people with tanks and to use warehouses in your areas to allow killings, then sooner or later the debts will have to to be repaid, “said councilor Mykhailo Podolyak. This month, Russia accused Ukraine of using helicopters to attack an oil depot in Belgorod, less than 20 miles from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine has not commented on whether it is responsible. But if Ukraine were behind the attacks on Russian soil, it would represent a major escalation of the war. It would also be a major embarrassment for Russia to stress how the country that invaded two months ago in anticipation of a quick victory managed to counterattack deep inside its territory.
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At least two other fires far beyond the range of Ukrainian missiles can not be easily explained. Last Thursday, a fire tore through the upper levels of the Ministry of Defense’s Second Central Research Institute in the city of Tver, northwest of Moscow. At least 17 people have been killed, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. More than a dozen people were injured, the news agency reported, including some who jumped for their lives from the upper floors of the building. The institute is known as a center for extremely sensitive research on key missile systems, including Russia’s most advanced stealth programs as well as the Iskander missile, which is widely used in Ukraine, and the S-400 air defense system. Tass said initial investigations indicate the fire was caused by electrical damage, but that a criminal investigation has been launched.
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Hours later, Russia’s largest chemical plant burned down, also for unknown reasons. The Dmitrievsky Chemical Plant, located about 208 miles northeast of Moscow in Kineshma, was a major supplier of propellants for the production of precision-guided missiles needed by Russia for the war. A third fire then struck a sensitive facility at the College of Aerospace Engineering and Technology in the Moscow suburb of Korolyov, known as the home of space programs between the Soviet Union and Russia. The fact that so many fires have broken out in key locations in such a short time is “quite suspicious,” said Dmitry Alperovic, president of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank in Washington. However, he added, “it is really impossible to say at this stage.”
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There are explanations beyond sabotage, Alperovic said. Accidental fires are not uncommon in Russia, which has a reputation for poor maintenance, and Western sanctions make it more difficult to obtain spare parts for vital machinery. Arestovich doubts that Ukraine is involved in the fires at defense-related facilities and suggested that Russian officials set fire to cover elements of corruption. “I think you have to look for reasons inside Russia – for example, to hide the means by which money has been stolen from the Russian Ministry of Defense,” he said. “KARMA IS HARD” In recent incidents, Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the fire at an ammunition depot had been extinguished and no civilians had been injured.
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Roman Starovoyt, governor of Kursk, another province bordering Ukraine, said explosions were also heard in the town of Kursk early Wednesday and that it was likely the sound of gunfire from air defense systems. He later said a Ukrainian drone had been intercepted in the skies over the Kursk region, adding that there were no casualties or damage. In Voronezh, the administrative center of another southern province, the TASS news agency quoted an emergency ministry official as saying two explosions had been heard and authorities were investigating. Governor Alexander Gusev said this morning that an air defense system had located and destroyed a small reconnaissance drone. Russia says it is sending investigators to the Kursk and Voronezh regions to document what it calls “illegal actions by the Ukrainian army.” Ukraine’s Podolyak said the Russian invasion could not be “removed”. “And so disarming the warehouses of the Belgorod and Voronezh killers is a completely natural process. “Karma is a hard thing,” he said. With additional report from Reuters
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