This could be the result of an attack.
This Monday, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of striking its gas terminal near Saint Petersburg.
“The Kiev regime continues to show its bestial face by striking civilian infrastructure sites,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, a huge fire broke out at this site, located on the Russian Baltic Sea, near the border with Estonia and 1,000 km from the border with Ukraine.
Initially, the Novatek company, which manages the terminal, simply mentioned an “external factor” without providing any clues.
“There are no victims, nor any threat to the life and health of employees,” she said in a brief statement on Sunday.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported, on Sunday, Ukrainian attacks “thwarted” during the night, without mentioning any incident at this stage in the Leningrad region.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense, air defense systems (…) are doing everything necessary to prevent such terrorist attacks,” reacted this Monday Dmitri Peskov, the first Russian official to accuse kyiv of the incident.
Attacks multiply before the Russian presidential election
If the Kremlin strives to present the conflict with Ukraine as having no effects on the daily lives of Russians, Kiev, for its part, is increasing drone and missile attacks on opposing territory, approaching the presidential election in Russia next March.
Also read “We still fear for our lives”: in Ukraine, daily life under the threat of missiles
According to Novatek's website, the Ust-Luga complex processes natural gas into naphtha (a liquid mixture intermediate between gasoline and kerosene), aircraft fuel and fuel components for boats.
It is also from the town of Oust-Louga that the tubes of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leave towards Germany, an infrastructure which however never entered service because it was the victim of sabotage in September 2022.
This Monday, the Kremlin spokesperson also accused Ukraine of the bombing which took place in the old city of Donetsk, under Russian control in eastern Ukraine, "a monstrous act of terrorism", according to him, which left 27 dead.
This particularly deadly bombing hit a market at peak time on Sunday, according to local authorities set up by Moscow.