A series of explosions early Tuesday, September 16, near Vladivostok drew a large deployment of Russian security services, including the Federal Security Service (FSB), local outlet Vladivostok1 reported.
According to the outlet, nearly every vehicle in the area of the blasts was stopped for document checks.
Authorities in Primorsky Krai, citing the regional anti-terrorism commission, said the “series of pops” was linked to the “use of gas equipment,” The Moscow Times (MT) reported.
Vladivostok1 noted that on May 30 a road was shut under similar circumstances. “At the time, witnesses saw a large concentration of vehicles, military personnel, medics and police at the turnoff to Shchitovaya Bay. A helicopter was flying nearby. It later emerged that a cylinder in a car parked in the bay heated up and exploded,” the outlet wrote. Only the vehicle with the cylinder was affected, it added, though relevant agencies spent more than three hours dealing with the aftermath.
Citing informed sources, the Telegram channel “VChK-OGPU” said the morning explosions in the Shchitovaya area occurred at a military site located away from the water. Public maps label it a “warehouse,” but the site may be Military Unit No. 40159, the channel reported.
“Witnesses said there was panic and confusion at the restricted facility immediately after the blast. Over time, security forces and emergency services converged, and a Mi-8 helicopter was deployed. As usual, there are major contradictions in the versions being voiced. Authorities spoke of ‘gas malfunctions,’ but our interlocutors say there has never been any gas equipment at the unit,” the channel’s post said.
As MT notes, in early June sources told The Washington Post (WP) that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was planning operations against Russia’s Pacific Fleet — including sending maritime drones to the Far East to strike Russian ships.
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (GUR) carried out a special operation in the area of Shchitovaya Bay in Russia’s Primorsky Krai, a source in the agency told Ukrainian outlets Ukrinform and RBC-Ukraine.
During the operation, a number of Russian servicemembers who “distinguished themselves by particular brutality toward Ukrainian civilians and by executing Ukrainian POWs” were “eliminated,” the source said.
Ukrainian media, citing the source, say the 47th Separate Air Assault Battalion of the 155th Separate Guards Naval Infantry Brigade is stationed at that location. The brigade took part in fighting near Kyiv, Vuhledar and Mariupol, as well as on the Kursk and Pokrovsk fronts.
“The Russian 155th Brigade distinguished itself by particular cruelty toward the local population and by executing Ukrainian POWs,” the report said. “At 9 a.m. local time, a powerful explosion occurred in the unit’s parking lot, followed by another.” The number of dead and wounded has not yet been specified.
