Today, a Moscow business center caught fire, the latest in a series of mysterious fires that have struck Russia amid rumors of a Ukrainian sabotage effort.
After a fire broke out early Friday in Moscow’s Kuntsevo area, dozens of people are believed to be trapped inside the ten-story Grand Setun Plaza building.
Major-General Alexander Kurenkov, Putin’s former bodyguard who was recently appointed as the country’s emergency minister after his predecessor died after falling from the top of a waterfall, traveled to the location to supervise the rescue operation.
As of late Friday morning, firemen had evacuated 120 people from the structure, according to a ministry official.
However, it was suspected that 20 to 40 people were trapped within, with no information on their whereabouts or condition.
As a Ka-32 firefighting helicopter was brought to the scene, a spokesman added, “The hunt for persons continues.”
The source of the fire is unknown at this time, but it follows a string of fires that have engulfed military and government institutions amid rumors of sabotage.
The fires have been centered in Moscow, including one that engulfed the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute in the outlying city of Zhukovsky two weeks ago.
The fire started at a power substation feeding the institute, which is located 43 miles southeast of Moscow and has played a key role in the construction of aircraft such as the Su-27, MiG-29, and MiG-31 fighters used in Ukraine.
Two chemical plants with ties to the defense industry caught fire, one on 4 May in Dzerzhinsk, which used to make chemical weapons, and the other two weeks earlier in Kineshma at the Dmitrievsky factory.