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In Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine, military enlistment offices began to be set on fire. News of arson has already come from six regions. The last case took place in Nizhnevartovsk, where bottles of “Molotov cocktails” were thrown into the building of the military registration and enlistment office.
It is unknown whether the arson cases reported by the media are related.
At the same time, there were no such arsons before. The BBC was able to find in the media only three cases of fires related to military enlistments, for the entire calendar year before the invasion of Ukraine, which began on the night of February 24. And in two of them – in Penza and in Ivanovo – the buildings where commissariats were located earlier burned. And in mid-October, the building of the assembly point of the military enlistment office in Moscow was on fire.
Adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Oleksiy Arestovych claims that “dozens” of arson of military enlistment offices in Russia took place after the start of the war, but the BBC has no confirmation of these data.
The current fires are taking place against the background of rumors on social networks and some media that mobilization will be announced in Russia due to the war in Ukraine. For example, the American television channel CNN reported that such mobilization could begin on May 9, citing Western officials. The Kremlin called the data “nonsense.”
The spring prize, which will last until July 15, started in Russia on April 1. As part of the conscription campaign, about 135,000 people are to join the army.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu promised that conscripts would not be sent to “hot spots”. The statements came after reports that Russian conscripts had been taken prisoner in Ukraine, although authorities said they were not taking part in the fighting.
Yellow and blue gates
The first arson of the military registration and enlistment office, which was reported by the media, took place in late February, when the commissariat in the Moscow region erupted. According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, a 21-year-old local resident became a suspect in the case: on February 28, he smashed the windows of the building and threw Molotov cocktail bottles there.
“Moreover, the gates of the military commissariat were painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and left a provocative inscription about the special operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the newspaper said.
Moscow police did not officially comment on the arson. According to MK, the 21-year-old suspect was detained only on March 8. And on March 13, he escaped from the police station, allegedly saying goodbye to the toilet.
“I wanted to disrupt the draft campaign”
On March 3, pro-government telegram channels in Russia reported that in Voronezh, an unknown person had broken a jar of flammable liquid near the front door of the military registration and enlistment office. When the fire started, the fireman fled, wrote the channel “OPER merged”.
“Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire,” the authors said. The local newspaper Novosti Voronezh wrote about the incident with reference to telegram channels. There are no other details about the event.
A week later, the man tried to set fire to the building of the military commissariat in the town of Berezovsky in the Sverdlovsk region. It happened on the night of March 11, but the details of the event became known only a few days later. According to Komsomolskaya Pravda, the fire was started by a 24-year-old consultant at an electronics store.
The military registration and enlistment office told E1 that the arson attempt “was unsuccessful” and that the property was “not damaged”. A source in the publication claims that Paliy “confessed that he wanted to disrupt the conscription campaign.”
On March 12, the court sent the man to a pre-trial detention center. He is accused of “attempted murder”. The defense tried to appeal this decision, but to no avail.
A similar story happened in the city of Shuya in the Ivanovo region. There, on the night of March 18-19, an unknown person threw an incendiary mixture into the window of the local military registration and enlistment office, IvanovoNews reported. The publication noted that “inscriptions criticizing the special operation in Ukraine” appeared in Shui these days.
Another local newspaper, Ivanovskie Novosti , provided vivid details of the detention: “It took security officers five hours to find the arsonist. Interior Ministry and FSB officers joined the search for the fakir.” He drank three bottles of port on March 19. After that, the Shui resident was drawn to the feats. ”
The publication claims that Paliy “thought out a detailed escape plan” and even changed his clothes “cinematically”, but the police were able to find him. The man was sent to a pre-trial detention center, but it is unknown under which article the criminal case was initiated.
Judging by the photo in the media, the window of the building was damaged as a result of the fire.
On the night of April 18, unknown individuals threw “Molotov cocktails” at the military registration and enlistment office in the village of Zubova Polyana in Mordovia. The fire damaged the rooms where the conscripts’ data was stored, and several computers burned down.
Finally, on the night of May 4, unknown individuals threw “Molotov cocktails” at the military enlistment office in Nizhnevartovsk (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug). The video of the incident was published by the Ural Mash channel.
“Two unknown people attacked in the middle of the night – threw eight homemade shells into the building and set fire to the hallway on the ground floor. There were police nearby – and they put out the fire,” – said the channel.
According to Ural Mash, the windows of the military enlistment office were broken and the hall burned down, but no one was injured.
No arson suspects have been identified so far.
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