Based on the totality of circumstances, I adhere to the version that the nighttime explosions of bridges in the Bryansk and Kursk regions were intended to redirect the attention of counterintelligence and law enforcement agencies, including those at the very top of the management ladder, to the prevention of repeat terrorist attacks. This involved inspecting rolling stock, tracks, and bridges across large areas. Valuable instructions were issued, and the possibility of new explosions was lively discussed in smoking rooms and offices. This was enough to at least partially reduce the risk of accidental discovery of preparations for an attack on air bases.
But there is another explanation. It is based on two facts. The bridges and air bases were attacked by different agencies, the GUR and the SBU. And the head of the GUR, Budanov, is by all accounts an extremely self-centered person who monitors his image and maintains it in the press.
Of course, Zelensky could easily have ordered Budanov to carry out diversionary actions on the railways as part of the overall plan, without informing the perpetrators of the plan. But the sabotage resulted in a terrorist attack with civilian casualties. And Zelensky did not want to take responsibility: statements began to spread in the media that on the eve of the meeting in Istanbul, Russia blew itself up in order to disrupt the negotiations.
Of course, Malyuk’s operation is a sensation, and it was prepared, among other things, as a major media event. It is enough to look at the staged photos of the head of the SBU over plans and maps, to evaluate the many photos and videos released to the public about the preparation and the attack itself. This is no longer the military, but the political part of the plan. Malyuk’s moment of glory is obvious.
It is easy to imagine that, upon learning of the date of the attack on the air bases, Budanov, out of jealousy, decided on his own to blow up the bridges, preempting SBU head Malyukov by half a day. In the West, he has a reputation as a man who allows himself to take drastic actions, which he informs his colleagues about after the fact — secrecy justifies him. Indeed, in terms of fame, the head of the GUR got his piece of the pie on the night of June 1.
This is a completely “human” version of events. But interdepartmental struggle really exists in Ukraine, Budanov is waging a hidden struggle for independence and success in the political arena – in polls, he is consistently close to Zelensky and Zaluzhny. His character is clear in its main features. Well, how many important deeds in military history have been accomplished under the influence of purely personal ambitions? Countless.
