List of Russian military accidents

This is a list of Russian military accidents that took place in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Accidents have variously been attributed to cutbacks in spending on equipment, the lack of maintenance of hardware, and the theft of parts for sale to criminal gangs due to low pay in the services.^[1]

1990s

• 1993 - two MiG-29s of the Russian Air Force collided in mid-air and crashed away from the public at the Royal International Air Tattoo. No one on the ground sustained any serious injuries, and the two pilots ejected and landed safely.^[2]

• 1995 - A nuclear submarine had its electricity cut by an electricity company at a naval base due to unpaid bills. The submarine's cooling system ceased to function and the reactor "came close to meltdown".^[1]

2000s

• June 2000 - A fuel leak from a missile poisoned servicemen at a naval base in Russia's Far East.^[3]

• 12 August 2000 - The OSCAR II-class nuclear-powered submarine Kursk sank due to an explosion of ordnance in its torpedo room in the Barents Sea, killing all the 118 submariners on board.

• 30 August 2003 - The decommissioned NOVEMBER-class nuclear-powered submarine K-159 sank while it was being towed to a harbour in the Barents Sea to be stripped of its nuclear reactors.^[4] 9 crew died.

• August 2005 - The Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy provided assistance to rescue seven Russian sailors trapped in the Priz-class deep-submergence rescue vehicle "AS-28" which had become entangled in submerged nets off Russia’s Pacific coastline near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy.^[3][5]

• 7 September 2006 - a fire broke out in the submarine, Daniil Moskovskiy (St Daniel of Moscow), as it was being towed across the Barents Sea to a base in Vidyayevo. Two on board died.^[6]

• 8 November 2008 - the AKULA II-class submarine K-152 Nerpa's freon fire extinguishing system was accidentally activated, killing 20 and injuring at least 22 people. The incident occurred while the submarine was conducting sea trials.^[3]

• 17 October 2008 - a MiG-29 crashed in southern Siberia causing the fleet to be grounded temporarily.^[7]

• 5 December 2008 - a MiG-29 lost part of its tail section due to corrosion and crashed in southern Siberia. The whole fleet was grounded for inspection and 90 MiG-29s were found to be in a dangerous condition.^[8]

• March 2009 - a fire broke out on the hull of the decommissioned nuclear submarine, Orenburg, while at the Severodvinsk docks.^[9]

• October 2009 - another blaze occurred during the decommissioning of the nuclear submarine, Kazan, again at Severodvinsk.^[9]

• 14 November 2009 - explosion on the outskirts of Ulyanovsk at Arsenal 31, a navy depot. 2 firemen died during the decommissioning of munitions.^[10]

• 23 November 2009 - second explosion at Arsenal 31. 8 soldiers died as they removed munitions.^[11]

2010s

• 2010 - a MiG-31 crashed in the Perm region, no one was injured.^[12]

• February 2010 - a blaze broke out on a decommissioned nuclear submarine, the Ak Bars, at Severodvinsk, on the Barents Sea. Casualties unknown.^[9]

• 26 May 2011 - explosion in an arms depot in the village of Urman in Bashkortostan. 12 people were injured and 40 buildings damaged. Over 2,000 people were evacuated from the surrounding area. The cause was blamed by an official on the "combustion of gunpowder traces".^[13]

• 2 June 2011 - explosion in an arms depot near the city of Izhevsk. 20,000 inhabitants of the surrounding area had to be evacuated. 95 people were injured in the blast,^[14] and 2 elderly people nearby died of heart attacks possibly caused by the sound of the blast. Windows were shatterd up to 10 km away. A discarded cigarette has initially been blamed for the blast.^[15]

• 6 September 2011 - a MiG-31 on a training mission crashed in the Perm region, killing the two pilots. The whole fleet of 370 fighters was grounded while an investigation into the cause was carried out.^[12]

• 29 December 2011 - the Yekaterinburg Delta-IV-class nuclear submarine, while in dry-dock in the Roslyakovo shipyard, north of Murmansk, caught fire after a blaze broke out on scaffolding that had been erected around it. The rubber outer hull was badly burnt. 9 people were injured fighting the fire. No radiation leak was detected.^[9]

• 13 March 2012 - a new Ka-52 attack helicopter crashed near Torzhok, killing both pilots.^[16]

• 2 May 2012 - explosion at a military training centre close to Nizhny Novgorod killed six soldiers.^[14]

• 23 May 2012 - a Russian-made An-30 military plane crashed while landing in Caslav, the Czech Republic. 23 were on board at the time, 6 of whom suffered burns, one being left in a critical condition. The plane's front landing gear collapsed as it touched down, causing it to leave the runway and break in two, catching fire. The passengers were made up of 14 Russians and 9 Czechs, all on an Open Sky treaty mission, for conducting surveillance flights over the territory of participant nations (NATO members, Russia and other countries).^[17]

• 26 September 2012 - explosion at an arms depot 180km northwest of Orenburg killed one officer.^[14]

• October 2012 - explosion at an arms depot in the Orenburg region. 4,000 tons of munitions exploded when a soldier failed to extinguish his cigarette. One officer was injured and inhabitants of the surrounding area had to be evacuated.^[14]

• 18-19 June 2013 - explosion at the Chapaevsk arms depot in the Samara region. 6,000 inhabitants of the surrounding area had to be evacuated. 30 people were injured in the blast caused by the "involuntary" explosion of shells.^[18][19]

• 22 October 2013 - explosion at a firing range near Strugi Krasnye, Pskov region, killed 6 soldiers ^[20] - 5 cadets from the Ryazan Higher Airforce Institute, and one sergeant from Pskov. Two others were injured. It is thought that one of them stepped on unexploded ordnance.

• 29 October 2013 - a Ka-52 helicopter crashed in the south-east of Moscow. Both pilots ejected safely.^[21]

• 11 February 2014 - a Su-24 bomber crashed in Volgogradskaja oblast', just after take-off. Both pilots died. Pilot or mechanical error are suspected.^[22]

• 7 April 2015 - the Orel, an Oscar-II class submarine, caught fire during repairs in a dry dock in the Severodvinsk shipyard. No casualties have been reported and the nuclear reactor had been turned off before the fire started. The submarine entered service in 1992.^[23]

• 4 June 2015 - a MiG-29 fighter crashed and was completely destroyed in the Astrakhan oblast'. Both pilots parachuted to safety.^[24]

• 4 June 2015 - the same day an unarmed Su-34 bomber in Voronezh oblast' overshot the runway when its parachute failed to open on landing. It overturned, severely damaging the plane.^[24]

• 13 July 2015 - a barracks collapsed at a training facility for Russian paratroopers near the Omsk.^[25] 23 soldiers died, 19 were hospitalised and 3 sustained minor injuries. The barracks in the town of Svetlyj had been renovated in 2013-2014.^[26]

See also

• Nuclear navy for a list of nuclear accidents including Soviet vessels

• Dedovschina - bullying in the Russian army.

• Komsomolets Nuclear Submarine Memorial Society

• List of Chinese military accidents

References