2023-05-03 01:24:28
Acts of sabotage, claimed or suspected, are on the increase. A Russian freight train derailed on Tuesday after an explosive device detonated. The second in two days, when Russia and annexed Crimea are the target of a series of attacks. Attacks that kyiv has not claimed, even if Ukraine recently claimed that its preparations for a counter-offensive were coming to an end.
In four days, explosive devices derailed two freight trains and damaged a high-voltage line in the Leningrad region (north-west), a drone attack caused a huge fire in an oil depot in annexed Crimea and a Ukrainian strike left four dead in the Bryansk region.
The incidents come as Russia prepares to celebrate May 9, which marks the victory over Nazi Germany, a period of patriotic fervor and a highlight of President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Acts not always claimed
On Tuesday, “an unidentified explosive device exploded near Snejetskaya station,” said the governor of the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, Alexander Bogomaz. “The incident led to the derailment of a locomotive and several train carriages,” he added, adding that there were no casualties. The station is located two kilometers from the region’s main city, Bryansk, which has a population of nearly 370,000.
On Monday, an explosion had already derailed a freight train, which had partially caught fire, near the town of Ounetcha, even closer to the Ukrainian border.
The state-owned Russian railways for its part attributed the derailment of a freight train on Tuesday to “the intervention of unauthorized persons in the work of rail transport”, without mentioning an explosive device.
The company said the incident occurred at 7:47 p.m. local time between Snejetskaya and the village of Belye Berega. She said the locomotive and “about 20 cars” had derailed and that traffic on this section had been suspended.
Many arrests in Russia
Numerous sabotages on railways in Russia have been reported since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
More than 65 people suspected of railway sabotage have been arrested in Russia since the fall in around 20 regions of the country, according to a count by the Russian opposition media Mediazona published in mid-April.
The Russian authorities have also repeatedly denounced incursions by Ukrainian armed groups into its territory, particularly in the Bryansk region. But this is the first time this week that officials have confirmed attacks of this magnitude. Since the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine, the Kremlin has tried to present Russia as a safe country.
Earlier in the day on Tuesday, he acknowledged the current security threat. “Of course, we are aware that the Kiev regime, which is behind a number of these attacks, terrorist attacks, intends to continue on this path,” said its spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Our intelligence services are doing everything necessary to ensure security,” he added.
In recent weeks, the Russian authorities have been insisting that the terrorist risk has increased. Many public events organized in early May for major national holidays were canceled due to threats deemed too high.
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