Media: Center Of Russia Cut Off From Far East And China

The real scale of the SSU special operation on BAM has become known.

Russian media claim that the sabotage that occurred in the longest tunnel of the BAM was an operation of the Ukrainian special services.

The central part of Russia remained cut off from the Far East after the explosion in the Severomuysky tunnel of the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

The Agency writes about this and notes that the sabotage carried out in the longest tunnel of the BAM “probably was an operation of the Ukrainian special services.”

The full extent of the consequences of the explosion is still unclear, however, apparently, we are talking about a lot of damage, since traffic has not been restored for the third day.

The BAM not only connects the center of Russia with the Far East, but is also the only serious railway route between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China.

Bloomberg and CNN also wrote that sabotage in the tunnel of the mentioned highway, located 4.7 thousand km from the border with Ukraine, was an operation of the SSU.

Some Russian media, in turn, reported that an explosive device was detonated, which was planted under a freight train car — a tank with diesel fuel.

According to Baza, the train consisted of 50 cars, including 41 tanks with diesel fuel and 3 tanks with aviation fuel. One tank burned out completely, two were found to have holes. The explosion seriously damaged the rails, and the spilled fuel flooded them, so it is not possible to remove all the tanks from the tunnel.

On Friday morning, RBC-Ukraine reported the “second stage of the SSU special operation,” during which a train was blown up on a bypass track that was used after the first explosion. A similar message was published by Suspilne. According to publications, the train was blown up on the Devil's Bridge, a viaduct up to 35 meters high. The bridge is part of the only bypass route available instead of a tunnel. The Baza channel also reported another explosion in the area: according to the channel, four tanks burned out, two more were damaged by fire, and fuel spilled over 150 square meters.

The Severomuysky tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in Russia. It was opened in 2003. An alternative route is the old section of the BAM Severomuysky Bypass.

The BAM also supplies Russian oil to the port of Kozmino, from where it is then delivered to China. According to Vedomosti, in January the volume of oil supplies to this port by rail amounted to about 80,000 barrels per day.