Russia Hit With Wave of Sabotage Attacks as Second Train Derailed
A freight train derailed on Tuesday after an explosion in Russia's Bryansk region, located near the Ukraine border, marking the latest incident in a string of sabotage attacks in the country in recent days.
"An unidentified explosive device went off near the Snezhetskaya railway station. There were no casualties," Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Bryansk region, wrote on Telegram. "As a result of the incident, a locomotive and several wagons of a freight train derailed."
A day earlier, another Russian freight train derailed in Bryansk after striking an explosive device. The incident was the latest apparent sabotage attack to occur in Russia. Such attacks have grown in intensity since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian railways said in a statement that Tuesday's derailment, like Monday's incident, was the result of "illegal interference in the work of railway transport."
A woman walks past a university building adorned with a World War II-themed patriotic banner depicting an elderly woman holding a Soviet flag, in Bryansk, Russia, on March 3, 2023. A freight train derailed on May 2, 2023, after an explosion near Bryansk. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
The Russian state-run news agency Tass reported that local prosecutors have launched an investigation into the derailments.
Just weeks into the war in Ukraine, four students opposed to the conflict sabotaged railways in the country. Four Russian and foreign students, between the ages of 17 and 18, were arrested in the city of Ufa in March 2022 and were accused of organizing a terrorist act.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the time backed the death penalty being reinstated in Russia in response. Writing on his Telegram channel, he called the defendants "monsters" and said that during World War II "saboteurs" were shot.
"There was only one verdict for such scoundrels - execution without trial or investigation. Right at the crime scene," he wrote.
Attacks appear to be on the rise in Russia in recent days as Kyiv prepares for a counteroffensive to reclaim its currently occupied territories.
On Wednesday, Russia said a drone caused an oil depot fire in the village of Volna, near the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea. Ukrainian officials haven't claimed responsibility for the fire.
Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian and Russian Foreign Ministries via email for comment.
A day earlier, Russia blamed Ukraine for another fire at an oil depot in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
In Russia's Belgorod region, located near the Ukrainian border, a drone dropped explosives at the construction site near the village of Priles on Tuesday, Telegram channel Baza reported.
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Source: Newsweek
