Molotov cocktail thrown into administrative building in Tolyatti while recruitment center catches fire in Nizhny Novgorod
According to Samara-based Nesluhi.info, the door and porch of a city administration building were set on fire in Tolyatti.
The Tolyatti city administration confirmed the arson to reporters, noting that police were investigating. The Interior Ministry of the Samara region said it was looking into the incident.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Samara region clarified that a message about the fire was received at 3:44 am. The fire covered an area of 10 square meters and was extinguished within 20 minutes.
Baza claims that employees of the “E Center” found used Molotov cocktails at the site. Telegram channel Shot wrote that someone had thrown a bottle filled with an incendiary mixture at the building.
Elsewhere, NN.ru reported that, on the evening of September 21, there was a fire in the building of a military commissariat in Nizhny Novgorod. According to the publication, the dental office of the recruiting center caught fire. The fire covered an area of one square meter.
Baza reports that a Molotov cocktail was also thrown through the office window.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there have been more than a dozen reported attempts to set fire to military recruitment offices in Russian regions, including in the Voronezh, Nizhnevartovsk, Ivanovo, Moscow, Ryazan, and Sverdlovsk regions.
On September 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced mobilization in the country. Activists and opposition activists called for protests immediately. Alexey Navalny’s team promised to support any form of protest, including “setting fire to a military recruitment office.”
The Moscow prosecutor's office threatened protesters, as well as those who call for protests, with administrative penalties, “including imprisonment for up to 15 years.”
According to OVD-Info’s calculations, as of 14:03 on September 22, at least 1,322 people in 40 Russian cities have been detained at anti-mobilization rallies.