"We don’t have any petrol. And now our bridge burned down"
Locals in Alakurtti, a town that hosts Russia’s Arctic Brigade, have lost an important bridge in a fire.
While soldiers from the 80th Motorised Rifle Brigade—also referred to as Russia’s Arctic Brigade—are involved in the killings and destruction in Ukraine, their home town on the Kola Peninsula is experiencing a gradual breakdown of local infrastructure.
In early June, a pedestrian bridge connecting two parts of the small military town was seriously damaged in a fire and can no longer be used.
A wave of local protests is now directed at local and regional authorities. Residents living on the other side of the Tuntsajoki River complain that they no longer have a way to reach the town centre.
The bridge collapse comes as the town is also experiencing a lack of petrol.
"Alakurtti!!! The only pedestrian bridge has burned down!!! Zarechnaya Street is now cut off from the village. All the amenities are in the village. We can’t get to work, to the clinic, the bank, the post office, or the nursery. Now the only way to get to the village is by car, 8 km along the main road. But there is no petrol in the village!!!" a woman wrote in a comment on the social media page of Murmansk Governor Andrei Chibis.
Other locals point out that the bridge, along with several other infrastructure objects, had been in a dilapidated state long before the fire.
"The bridge has been in a state of disrepair for years—not just one, or two, or three, or even five. Could this issue have been resolved? Yes, it could. Has anything been done? No," another woman commented.
A large proportion of local families are connected to the military. Hundreds of men from the brigade have been sent to the front line in Ukraine.
"How are mums with pushchairs supposed to cross this bridge???? If her husband has gone to the 'Special Military Operation' zone and the woman and children are left living on Zarechnaya Street, what is she supposed to do???
Support for families of those in the 'Special Military Operation' zone!!! GREAT!!" the wife of a military man wrote ironically on a local social media page.
Town mayor Aleksandr Samarin says he is looking for ways to resolve the situation together with commanders of the Arctic Brigade.
It is not yet clear how the fire started.
Alakurtti is located on the Kola Peninsula, about 50 km from the border with Finland. Before the Second World War, the town was part of Finland. It was attacked and annexed by Stalin following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.
The 80th Motorised Rifle Brigade has been heavily involved in the full-scale war against Ukraine since its start in 2022. Hundreds of its soldiers are believed to have been killed.
In February 2023, after one year of full-scale war, a local social media information page commemorated more than 65 killed men from the brigade.
In early 2024, a local school reported that as many as seven of its former pupils had been killed in Ukraine. They are heroes and good examples for today’s students, the school management emphasised.
