Russian Man Detained for Setting Fire to ‘Special Military Operation’ Museum Door

A man in the Russian city of Saratov has been detained on suspicion of arson after the door of a museum dedicated to the war in Ukraine was set on fire, the ASTRA Telegram news channel reported Friday. 

ASTRA identified the detainee as 21-year-old Saratov resident Maxim Kim and said no injuries had been reported in the early Thursday fire.

The SVO Museum (“Special Military Operation” Museum), which opened in July 2023, regularly hosts “patriotic” events for schoolchildren with military involvement.

Its exhibits include the personal items of Saratov locals who were killed fighting in Ukraine as well as combat trophies from the Donbas.

The museum also includes an exhibition called “Ordinary Nazism” arranged by the Russian Historical Society, which claims to tell the story of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II and “crimes of neo-Nazis against the residents of Ukraine in 2014-2022.”

President Vladimir Putin claimed he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to rid Russia's neighbor of what he called its “Nazi” leadership, an assertion that has been widely criticized as a distortion of history and an effort to delegitimize Kyiv.

Dozens of military enlistment and registration offices have been set on fire across Russia since the start of the war.

Some detainees claim to have been duped into carrying out arson by people presenting themselves as FSB officers.