‘Russians’ Official Version Looks Doubtful’

A military expert told what could have happened at a key enterprise of the Russian nuclear forces.

On the evening of February 7 in the Russian Federation, a powerful detonation occurred at a military facility of the Russian Federation near the city of Izhevsk.

Later, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the incident occurred at the Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant, a key nuclear enterprise in the country. The cause of the explosion, which frightened residents of nearby settlements, was called “technical work.” In turn, the EDDS (Unified Duty Dispatch Service — edit.) of the Zavyalovsky district of the Russian Federation reported that the explosion near Izhevsk occurred during scheduled tests of rocket engines.

What really happened? The Charter97.org website spoke about this with co-director of foreign policy and international security programs at the Razumkov Center, first assistant to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine (2005–2008), military expert Oleksiy Melnik:

— At the moment, I can only assess the likelihood of one version or another; I don’t have any data to put forward my own version.

If we analyze the available scraps of information, what was seen and heard, it is clear that this was related to work, either the production or disposal of some kind of rocket technology. Both cases have their own nuances; in the first, testing could take place, in the second, disposal, which can take place in different ways.

One of them is that a rocket stage is fixed at the test site, fuel is burned out of it, this is both a sound and a torch. This could have been some kind of regular work, but at the same time I came across in local reviews that, they say, they always warned about this before, it was not done at night. The version of planned work cannot be completely ruled out, but it looks somewhat doubtful.

Most likely, there was some kind of technological incident — there was an explosion, there was a fire. If we look at the information available at the moment, how quickly this flame disappeared, then there were no very serious consequences for production.

— In this case, will this incident affect the production of missiles?

— It’s hard to say now, it’s better to wait and see. Satellite images “before” and “after” may appear, then, for example, the place where this happened will be clear. If these were some kind of production sites, that’s one thing. If something burns abnormally or explodes at a landfill, then the consequences are different.

There have already been some information leaks about radiation. If there really was a release, then it will be recorded by sensors outside Russia. Now, I repeat once again, the information is fragmented and very limited.

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