Two oil-loaded trains have been derailed in as many days (Picture: E2W/Getty)
Putin’s counterintelligence forces have been caught out by a second act of sabotage on Russian railways in as many days.
An oil-loaded freight train was blasted off its tracks in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.
Railway authorities said the explosion went off just before 8pm local time on Tuesday while the train was in between stops, blaming ‘illegal interference in the work of railway transport’.
Footage showed officials from Russia’s national investigation force peering at the wreckage on Tuesday night.
Their presence suggests the Kremlin is desperate to identify the culprits quickly.
Emergency vehicles were seen crawling along the length of the train early the following morning.
Bryansk’s regional governor said the ‘locomotive and several wagons of the train derailed’.
The type of device used was still ‘unidentified’ on Tuesday, he admitted.
Another train thought to be carrying oil to the front line through the same region was derailed after an explosion on Monday.
Russia is on particularly high alert for security threats ahead of national celebrations across Russia for Victory Day on May 9.
Several border regions have been forced to cancel traditional parades for fear of disruption by Ukrainian drones.
The derailment completely wrecked the locomotive and several carriages (Picture: AFP)
Investigators from the national government rushed to the scene (Picture: AFP)
Attacks on home soil are a major embarrassment for Putin, who is desperate for Russians to see his invasion as a ‘special operation’ to ‘liberate’ a nation of Ukrainians who are supposedly loyal to his country.
His spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, previously said: ‘Of course, we are aware that the Kyiv regime, which is behind a number of such attacks — terrorist attacks — plans to continue this line.
‘All our intelligence services are doing everything necessary to ensure security.’
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Putin’s spies are supposed to be on high alert for Ukrainian special ops on Russian soil ahead of the country’s Victory Day celebrations.