Ukraine's Security Service blows up railway connecting Russia and China

Stamau123@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 224 points –
pravda.com.ua

On the night of 29-30 November, an explosion occurred on the Baikal-Amur Mainline in the Severomuysky Tunnel, named after Vladimir Bessolov, located in Buryatia (Russia).

Source: Ukrainska Pravda’s source in the security forces

Details: The source notes that this is actually the only major railway connection between Russia and China. And currently this route, which Russia uses, specifically for military supplies, is paralysed.

23

That's pretty damn deep behind enemy lines! Guess Russian security services are too busy with culture war run-arounds to do actual work.

Recruiting spies and saboteurs from that region of Russia should be very easy. Since a majority of their military conscription happens in the poorer rural regions first, I am sure there are quite a few people out there that are getting pissed off.

That is just a theory of course, but I really hope it's a sign of what is really going on in the country.

Yeah it's insane how far on the other side of Russia this happened. Fuckin ballsy.

don't you just hate it when freight trains explode inside those infrastructure critical tunnels

A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.

The Russia China border is 4,200 km long. There are three major rail crossings between Russia and China, which is honestly less than I was expecting...

So yeah kudos destroying 1/3 of the rail connections between the two countries

Trans Siberian went all the way around the Chinese border before they were allowed to shorten it by going through China.

I guess it's all desert or tundra for most of that border, I also assumed there were more crossings

It's not Kerch, but I'll take it

At first I read Crimea, but this is a whole different form of good news

Same. I read the title as Russia <> Crimea, then the excerpt that you posted. In the end I was like wtf how does China play a role in the connection between Russia and... oh... oooohhhh....!

"[…] the Baikal-Amur Mainline in the Severomuysky Tunnel, named after Vladimir Bessolov, located in Buryatia (Russia)"

Hmm, I don't see the naming connection here

Well, it might be some weird russian naming convention. I've understood that people have hard time reading Tolstoi and Dostojevsky and kind, because a single character in those books have up to seven names, because it's part of russian culture. And apparently those nsmes are completely logical to every other character in the stories.

Then again, I'm not sophisticated enough to have read anything from them, but that's what I've gathered from how other people speak about those books.

"The North-Baltic Sea canal, named after Kaiser Willhelm II".

That is, "Severomuysky" is an adjective meaning "relating to the northern Muya mountain range", geology not a person's name. OTOH I can't find anything about it being named after Bessolov. I can't even find a Vladimir Bessolov, there's a Vladimir Ivanovich Bessonov, politician checks out but -- KPRF? From Rostov-on-Don? I don't see anything about Buryatia much less the tunnel. Then there's Volodomir Vasylyovych Bessonov... that actually might work. Played in the national football team of the USSR, doesn't take much for a fan to name a tunnel after a football player.

Does this provide cassus belli for China to enter the war?

If Russia stealing everyone's airplanes didn't give anyone cassus belli, breaking one of Russia's rail lines in Russia that China liked to use probably won't.

they are not interested in getting their asses kicked by the Ukrainians and just embarrassing themselves.. obviously the Russians don't care, but China still has some face to save..

Seems like an opportunity to China - sell the same stuff again