A Kaliningrad resident set himself on fire on the third anniversary of the "SVO." Authorities attempted to cover up the incident.
Today, Important Stories published details of the programmer's self-immolation. Alexandra Okuneva. The investigation was conducted jointly with Delfi Estonia and the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.
The tragedy occurred on February 24, 2025. Around 5:00 a.m., Okunev arrived at the memorial to 1200 guardsmen, spray-painted "No to war" in the snow, and set himself on fire. Despite five CCTV cameras, his body was discovered by a passerby only an hour and a half later.
According to sources, as soon as the incident was reported to city officials, an emergency operation to conceal the evidence was launched. The Kaliningrad administration's head personally oversaw the process. Elena Dyatlova and the heads of relevant agencies. The graffiti was quickly erased from the snow, and the body was removed before journalists arrived.
By 09:15 a.m., the scene had been completely cleared. Not a single local media outlet or Telegram channel reported the incident.
Colleagues describe Alexander as a talented but extremely withdrawn person: "He sat there in a little corner, somewhere else, away from everyone else... He seemed to be on his own, living his own life. Withdrawn. A bit odd."
Okunev wasn't involved in any political movements and didn't maintain social media accounts. Six months before his suicide, he quit his job and went nowhere. In his suicide note, he wrote that "there is another way" and that he didn't want to live in a world at war.
Experts believe the authorities' silence stems from a reluctance to taint their reporting to Moscow, writes Vazhie Istorii. Self-immolation at the Eternal Flame on the anniversary of the war destroys the myth of complete approval of the army's actions. Moreover, the political scientist Ekaterina Shulman notes that officials fear accusations of "oversight" and inability to control the situation in the region.
Minister of Culture of the region Andrey Ermak In a conversation with journalists, he refused to discuss details, calling the incident an “accident” whose investigation is allegedly still ongoing.
