On April 21, 2022 at 11:08 a.m., the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Tver Region received information about a fire in a building located at 32 Afanasiya Nikitina Embankment, Tver. The flame broke out in a room on the first floor of the administrative building of the Central Research Institute of the Aerospace Defence Troops of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
The institute is a part of the 2nd Central Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defence which is a research centre for development of weapons for anti-aircraft and aerospace defence. The institute’s developments include the invisibility systems of the Su-27 and Tu-160 aircraft, participation in the development of the Iskander missile system. In total with the participation of the institute 8 types of anti-aircraft missile systems, 10 types of fighter-interceptors, 32 complexes of control automation were adopted.
The fire quickly spread through the wooden ceilings. The roof collapsed. The city was engulfed in smoke because of the fire, and authorities blocked the embankment and central part of Tver.
The area of the fire amounted to 2.5 thousand square meters. It was localised only by 4.35 p.m.
6 employees of the defense research institute died, 27 were injured. Some were smoke inhalation, others were injured jumping out of windows.
According to Alexander Zhukov, head of the Department for Firefighting and Rescue Operations of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations in the Tver Region, extinguishing was complicated by weather conditions.
According to a preliminary version, the fire might have been caused by a power grid malfunction. Many people on social media believe that the fire was caused by an act of sabotage.
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