Anti-Putin Protester, 65, Arrested For Allegedly Setting Fire To Russian General's BMW

A Russian general’s BMW was set on fire by an anti-war protestor who said she was conducting her own “special military operation”. The anti-Putin activist was identified as Elena Belova, 65, who was arrested by Moscow police after she had poured petrol and lit a match on the luxury SUV of deputy head of the General Staff, Yevgeny Sektarev.

Belova’s actions were labeled as an anti-war protest as confirmed by Baza, a Russian independent news agency. General Sekretarev is responsible for the Kremlin’s department tasked with censorship of military activity. The act of speaking out against the war, which Russia supposedly describes as a “special military operation, carries a fifteen-year sentence in prison.

According to the Mirror, during Belova’s arrest, she was supposedly told by police to cry out “Azov is Power," a war cry in reference to the Ukrainian resistance regiment known as the “Azov Battalion”--a regiment deemed as a terrorist organization by the Russian Government. However, it is unclear whether the elderly protester acted alone or if she was merely a pawn of a larger plot.

The torching of the general’s vehicle is believed to be the result of the current uproar in Moscow amid the assassination of 29-year-old Darya Dugin, daughter of Alexander Dugin, known as "Putin’s Rasputin". Dugin’s daughter was killed in an explosion on a highway near the capital over the weekend. Her murder is considered to be an attempt at her father’s life.

Darya's death has spread fear in many Russian citizens as the effects of the war are now being felt in their home territory. But according to some experts, this also suggests that the assassination of Darya may have been conducted by Putin’s FSB spy agency.

Author of “Blowing up Ukraine,” Yuri Felshtinsky said the assassination of the Russian ideologist’s daughter may well have been plotted and organized by Russian security services. He added that the bomb possibly was attached to her car despite being parked inside his heavily guarded compound. He said such an act is not reflective of Ukraine as the nation primarily focuses on military targets, unlike the way Russia hones in on its targets.

The author added he sees no gain in attacking Putin’s media puppets or dispatching operatives inside the Russian Federation. Felshtinsky said such goals are meaningless to liberating Ukraine, citing how this could allow the Russian government to exploit this incident as evidence that Ukraine is stooping so low as to harm civilians. Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker claims that the assassination was conducted by an illusive Russian group, the National Republican Party. However, the existence of the group has yet to be verified.