Putin’s War Machine Depends on a Railroad Built by Tsars
Ukrainian attacks on the Trans-Siberian complex make sense if you look at the long arc of Eurasian history.
Two steam locomotive trains that traveled from Vladivostok to Sloubliana on the Trans-Siberian railroad line, circa 1955.
Source: Three Lions/Hulton Archive via Getty Images
It had the makings of a military thriller. In November, Ukrainian operatives carried out closely sequenced attacks on critical sections of the Baikal-Amur Railway, which runs through eastern Russia and is part of the larger Trans-Siberian Railway complex. The attacks were a daring effort to disrupt Russia’s transportation network, and especially its links to China, thousands of miles from the front.
Yet this was hardly the first time Russian railways have had starring roles in epic, violent dramas.