Translated material
Two acts of sabotage per day were carried out in Russia
On Monday, a train with oil products and building materials derailed in the Bryansk region. This is one of the most significant sabotage on the railways since the beginning of the war and the first time since February 24, 2022, when the authorities attributed the train crash to a detonated explosive device. At the same time, power lines were blown up in the Leningrad region.
Details. The governor of the Bryansk region Alexander Bogomaz said that the train derailed at the Bryansk-Unecha section (about 70 km from the Ukrainian border) as a result of an explosion on the railway tracks. The train was transporting oil products and lumber, after the accident a fire started.
- Russian Railways reported that a locomotive and seven cars out of 60 had derailed. The Mash Telegram channel reported that an “interception” plan was introduced in the south-west of the Bryansk region, the security forces are looking for two men who may be involved in sabotage. They were caught on surveillance cameras nearby, the channel adds.
- Also on Monday, it became known about the explosion of power lines in the Leningrad region. The governor of the region, Alexander Drozdenko, said that a support was blown up on one of the power lines in the Susaninsky settlement of the Gatchina region, and explosives were found on the second.
- After the power line was blown up, the FSB opened a criminal case under articles on sabotage and illegal trafficking in explosives (Articles 281 and 222.1 of the Criminal Code).
Context. According to The Insider, since the beginning of the war by early July 2022, 63 freight trains have derailed in Russia. The publication noted that this figure was almost one and a half times higher than the figure for the same period in the last pre-war year. However, by that time, the authorities had officially announced only one case of sabotage on the railways - the blowing up of a bridge in the Kursk region.
- Back in late October last year, British intelligence claimed that the Russian authorities should be concerned about the effectiveness of sabotage on the railways. In London, it was noted that the Russian army mainly relies on rail transport to transport troops to Ukraine.
- As . Mediazona wrote, by mid-April 2023, criminal cases were initiated in 21 regions of Russia in cases of sabotage on railways, at least 66 people were detained in them According to the materials of the cases, in most cases the purpose of sabotage was relay cabinets, inside of which there is equipment that regulates the movement of trains. As Mediazona noted, almost all detainees in these cases are schoolchildren or students by age: a third of them are minors, only a few detainees are over 25 years old. 51 out of 66 known defendants have been detained since the beginning of January this year, the newspaper wrote.