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What set an FSB compound on fire?

March 16, 2023
Gabrielle Debinski
Smoke rises near a building belonging to the border patrol section of Russia's FSB federal security service in the southern city of Rostov.
Smoke rises near a building belonging to the border patrol section of Russia's FSB federal security service in the southern city of Rostov.
Reuters

At least one person was killed and two were injured on Thursday after a fire broke out at a compound used by Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, in the southern city of Rostov. Speculation swirled early on about the cause of the blaze – the FSB is located just 43 miles from Ukraine near the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where heavy fighting rages.

Indeed, over the past year, state facilities inside Russia have come under attack from those opposed to the Kremlin’s conscription measures, while Ukrainian nationalists have also been accused of sabotaging Russian infrastructure – like the Nord Stream pipelines.

Russian authorities, however, have said that the Rostov blast was started by an electrical short circuit that caused stored fuel to explode. Local media reported that ammunition stored at the location had caused the fire, which has since been extinguished.

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