The Investigative Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region opened a criminal case on the fact of the collapse of a power line near the village of Kovshovo in the territory of the Susaninsky settlement of the Gatchinsky district. The power line was damaged on the night of May 1 as a result of the detonation of an improvised explosive device. In this regard, the case was initiated under articles on sabotage and illegal trafficking in explosive devices (Article 281 and Article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
As Sergey Lomakin, First Deputy Prosecutor of the Leningrad Region, explained, the leadership of the Prosecutor’s Office coordinates the work of investigative and operational bodies and emergency services. Cynologists and criminologists, as well as representatives of law enforcement agencies, are now working at the site of the emergency. The nearest residential buildings from the emergency site are about 500 meters away. There were no casualties.
According to preliminary data, the power line collapsed as a result of an explosion of an unidentified device in the immediate vicinity of the power grid facility.
Explosives were found on another line, but they managed to deactivate the explosive device there in time. Explosives experts are now examining neighboring supports.
Power transmission lines are under the jurisdiction of FGC UES (MES of the North-West), but at the moment the company has not commented on the situation. It is known that the power line fed four districts of the Leningrad region.
The head of the region, Alexander Drozdenko, explained in his Telegram channel that the power supply of settlements and civil infrastructure was not disrupted – the network was switched by the substation in automatic mode.
“I ask the inhabitants of the Leningrad region to be vigilant, to report suspicious persons and objects to law enforcement agencies,” the governor wrote.
In social networks, summer residents from the Lena Horticultural Non-Profit Association write that the road to the settlements of Myza, Kovshovo and Virkino is blocked by special services – travel in this direction is prohibited. People who return to St. Petersburg can enter the city only through Vyritsa.
Recall that earlier the ICR opened a criminal case under the article on illegal trafficking in explosives and explosive devices (part 1 of article 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) in connection with the explosion that occurred on the night of April 26 in the city of Pavlovsk, Leningrad Region. Then an unidentified device went off near the boiler room. As a result, the foundation of the structure’s chimney was damaged, as well as the roof and facade of the nearby building of the Cowboy Equestrian Club.
