“The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that once belived they were eternal.” Percy Bysshe Shelley
Russia’s empire on fire II: Orthodox church in Tatarstan, defense ministry building, aircraft factory in Voronezh set ablaze
The series of mysterious fires both in Russia proper and as in the occupied parts of Ukraine continues unabated and at breathtaking frequency. Also, a Russian blogger was killed in a mysterious bomb attack in Petersburg.
Today, I want to detour a bit and also include a fire from the occupied territories. There was also a fire in Simferopol Crimea) which is still far way from the frontline. This isn’t the first time this city is targeted either. So, it seems as if the partisans in Crimea already know that the time to fight back has finally come. Then I will close out with my take on what has happened in Petersburg to Vladlen Tatarsky, the propagandist that was recently killed in a bomb attack.
- Orthodox Church in Tatarstan on fire
Tatarstan is sometimes referred to as Tataria and is one of the republics of the Russian Federation with a population of roughly 3.8 million (2017). The majority of the population of these “Wolga-Ural Tatars” are not Russians. 54 percent are Muslims, less than 40 percent are Russians, there are other non Russian minorities there for example: Bashkirs, Chuvashi, also known als Wolga Bulgarians, Mari (Wolga Finns), Ukrainians, Mordvins and Udmurts.
Russians weren’t always in the minority
But since 1990 lower birthrates among Russians in the region have made them the minority. Tatarstan is one of Russia’s most industrially developed regions. Russia can’t really afford to lose control over that region. This region has more than 1 billion tons in oil reserves. This republic produces around 32 million tonnes of crude oil per year. Moscow really needs to keep extracting their wealth if they want to continue to fund their barbaric venture in Ukraine.
Now that we have got some background knowledge, let’s get to the fire itself
To me, it looks like the Muslim majority in occupied Tatarstan is getting rid of a Russian colonial Orthodox KGB church. Russia will soon face a major inner rebellion by these regions, who have been paying a high price in blood as Putin continues his “democide” against its own minorities unabated.
These tensions have been growing over the past few years, and this fire here is proof that the muslim majority of Tatarstan may soon have enough of Moscow. That is especially problematic as when the Caucasus secedes and Tatarstan would join them. This would cut Russia off from the Wolga region. Losing control over this area would be even worse than losing control of Crimea next summer.
2. Russian Ministry of Defense building in Moscow on fire
Truly, nothing spells victory more than having one of your buildings of the Ministry of Defense set ablaze. But this requires a little more context. The fire broke in one of the buildings belonging to Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. This was only a small blaze, and the fire was put out rather quickly.
We shouldn’t make too big of a deal out of this. We are talking about a fire the size of a small apartment. It’s probably just bad maintenance. Or did they burn some records of their war crimes? Who knows, we will never find out. What was reported is fire that came out of a third floor window at 19 Znamenka Street, Moscow. That’s one of the buidlings of the ministry of defense, or offense one isn’t so sure about that these days.
3. Fire near Simferopol (in occupied Crimea)
This city is situated alongside the Salgir River. This is also an important highway hub of the Crimean Peninsula. There is 340.000 people living there and the city also has its own airport. The city is an administrative center, so it provides a very valid target for partisan activity to really hurt and disrupt Russia’s logistics.
According to yet unconfirmed reports, a big poultry farm was on fire. That may seem not that significant, but in the light of Ukraine’s likely plan to siege Crimea and starve the Russians out. This may be significant, after all. That also wasn’t the only fire there. On the 14th of March, a warehouse went up in flames.
4. Factory producing aircraft on fire in Voronezh
An article shows what appears to be a missile trail through the sky. That would make it possibly anti-aircraft fire? The whole story is actually almost hilarious. The city council denies everything. They say there have been no emergencies. The press service of the Emergency Situations Ministry in Voronezh Oblast also reported that there were no calls for fire and rescue units. The Voronezh Aircraft Plant fulfils orders from the Russian Ministry of Defence, including the maintenance of the so-called “Doomsday Plane”, a flying command post of the Russian president and his getaway vehicle for, well a nuclear attack.
That always makes me wonder if maybe NATO should give Ukraine a missile or two that might just happen to have a little more range
Just maybe Ukraine is “recommended” that they may want to enter certain coordinates in for this special rocket. And then boom goodbye airplane factory. Also, Russia’s war economy is currently slave driving their remaining workforce with double and triple shifts to somehow produce enough weapons to keep this war going. When you work that hard and round the clock, it creates a lot of friction, which in turn causes a lot of heat, which causes spontaneous combustion from all the work being done.
Just some suggestions, it is very hard to get information on that one. It could be a failed missile, a worker falling asleep and setting the place ablaze or just once again the bad maintenance of Russia’s age-old industrial sector. Let me know in the comments what you make of that one.
Bonus Chapter: Blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was assasinated in Petersburg
That’s not really a fire. But a mystery it is indeed. The Russians say it was the Ukrainians. Prigoshin says it wasn’t the Ukrainians but a message sent to his address. Chris O has a good thread on that, I will only paraphrase it and link the thread here. I think I, oh god, I am gonna say that for real. I believe Prigoshin is right. Ugh, that was painful to write down.
First of all, the security cameras were off, which is peculiar as they were deactivated when Dugina was killed as well. It was very strange for a 1984 Orwellian surveillance state. That makes all of that very suspicious. Then we got the VChK-OGPU Telegram channel, and they reported the following.
"Some of the cameras on the path of Daria Trepova appeared to be switched off between 08.00 and 18.40. At the same time, she may have been meeting someone in the 'dead zone’.
The place where the war reporter Tatarsky was killed was described by locals as “Prigozhin’s” so events there were avoided by them. After the explosion, the homicide squad of Petersburg arrived at the scene. They soon had their suspect, however, that all went a bit too fast for me. According to the same Telegram channel, there is only one complete video footage of this girl Daria, who then went pretty confidently into “Street Food Bar №1, then it gets weird as she turns onto the next street and is in some blind spot for the cameras for 2 minutes. That particular place doesn’t even have private cameras. Then, the channel continues to report:
Trepova barely made it a couple of dozen meters. She was stunned and dazed. The video shows Daria stopping and making a phone call, and after the conversation, she ran as fast as she could
At 6.17 p.m., she ran back into the same archway at 1-3, 4th St., where she was renting a flat. There is no video recording of when and how Trepova got there, what was going on in the yard where she "disappeared," and, most importantly, how she left.
The technicians entrusted with this case were unable to retrieve archive materials from the CCTV cameras. Obviously, the cameras weren’t making any recordings in the archive between 8:00 and 18:40 on the second of April. This breakdown can hardly be an accident. It’s even less feasible that these cameras were remotely switched off from Ukraine. Who else could have switched them off? Oh wait, the Russian secret service themselves for an inside job? The same thing happened when Dugina was killed. The question that remains. Is that just a coincidence or not? I let you be the judge of that.
Olga Lautman has a very clear view of that incident. She also thinks that there are too many coincidences at once.
In the parking lot near the site of the Tradition festival, where Darya Dugina’s car was parked before the explosion, the security cameras were not working for the past two weeks. Convenient for people who knew and installed the explosive
Quick Summary and conclusion
First of all, thank you to all of you. This series was never meant to be that long or large. I started in November, and then it kinda never stopped. I hope this is really something interesting and relevant for you. This information is somehow tucked away under the surface of this war. I can only speculate about the causes of these incidents. Russia really tries very hard to put a lid on this information.
The bomb attack in Petersburg is also mysterious
Are we seeing the first major rifts appearing in the beautiful facade the Russian regime has created? Discontent appears to be growing. In my opinion, the attack on the church is also no small feat. There are also these recent protests in Moscow. The protestors were demonstrating against a new mosque. I think that is also relevant to mention in this context.
Kadyrow even ranted about it on Telegram
He called it “provocations” and he accused those who participated as “acting in the service of Western interests.” He also said these men would try to drive a wedge into the Russian society. Well, the only ones driving a wedge into Russian society are those that make these policies. Those who started this senseless war are to blame for that wedge.
The Russian regime and its policies are by far the biggest destroyer of Russian culture.
I really feel the tensions inside the empire are growing. I see no way how this won’t escalate in the near future. The year 1917 is echoing through time. Russia is in for a bumpy rest of this year.
“All interstellar empires rose and fell, ultimately, on their ability to deliver on this one simple, unexciting thing: logistics.” John Jackson Miller, A New Dawn
Sources:
https://t.me/channel24_ua/83691
https://mobile.twitter.com/TreasChest/status/1643316406040109057
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatarstan
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-does-video-show-russia-ministry-defense-fire-1793073
