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Are there any recorded accidents in the USSR (after 1945) involving gas pipelines? Was there any suspicion that some of them might have been an act of sabotage?

I am not asking about a particular gas explosion commonly referred to as Siberian gas explosion. I would like to hear about all gas pipeline explosions in Siberia after 1945 and before the dissolution of the USSR.

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  • The title refers to the "Siberian gas pipeline explosion" are you asking about this event or are you asking for other examples?
    – Steve Bird
    Feb 3 at 15:54
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    Documenting preliminary research will improve both the probability of an answer and the quality of the answer(s)
    – MCW ♦
    Feb 3 at 15:55
  • "Explosion" needs to be defined. For example is a modest oil leak that forms a vapor cloud and then explodes counted. By the way real explosion experts have several categories. I examined many mostly US leaks , not generally described as explosions. Footnote ; Russian gas companies preferred to get Japanese line pie (1980's) implying they did not prefer Russian. Although Russia has by far the largest DSAW line pipe shop in the world in Chelyabinsk Siberia. Forgive ramble, my favorite subject.
    – blacksmith37
    Feb 4 at 19:48

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Not in Siberia I think, but quite close and also quite well-known: Ufa 1989

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We do know there was a (minor?) gas pipeline explosion in Siberia in 1982.

There was a controversial story in Thomas Reed's Cold War autobiography At The Abyss claiming that the USA, under President Reagan's direction, slipped a trojan into some Canadian pipleline control software that ended up causing an explosion in Russia. I say "controversial", because experts on the Russian side have insisted that was physically impossible, as they didn't use digital pipeline controls during that period.

However, while debunking this, a KGB veteran did admit that there was a pipeline explosion in 1982 near the Siberian capital of Tobolsk. He said it was caused by shoddy construction, and the pipeline was fixed within a day.

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  • Didn't we have a question here about this sabotage claim once upon a time? I might just be remembering the Slashdot discussion when the book came out...
    – T.E.D. ♦
    Feb 3 at 17:22

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