In Kaliningrad, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 37-year-old programmer Alexander Okunev set himself on fire in protest against the war. This was reported in a joint investigation by IStories, Delfi Estonia, and Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT.
The journalists note that information about the incident first appeared in a public report by Estonia’s foreign intelligence service, but the report did not disclose the victim’s name or the details of what had happened.
What happened
According to the investigation, Okunev carried out the self-immolation at around 5 a.m. on February 24, 2025, near the memorial to the 1,200 Guardsmen. Next to his body, the words “No to war” had been sprayed onto the snow. The day before, events marking Defender of the Fatherland Day had been held at the site.
The authors of the report suggest that the timing was not accidental: the missile strikes on Kyiv on February 24, 2022, the day the full-scale invasion began, also started at about that hour.
Authorities’ response
According to the investigators, officials decided to conceal the incident. Despite the large number of cameras around the memorial, the burned body was found only by a passerby at about 06:40. The incident was then reported to city administration head Yelena Dyatlova.
By 09:15, traces at the scene had already been removed, and city officials, the report says, told their superiors that no one had seen anything. As a result, no media outlet reported the case. Okunev’s relatives also did not publicize the self-immolation.
What is known about Okunev
The journalists write that Okunev worked as a system administrator for a company selling retail equipment. Acquaintances said he avoided political discussions, had few friends, was not in a relationship, and lived alone. Six months before his death, he left his job and, according to people who knew him, had little contact with anyone afterward.
The day before, he behaved completely normally, and what happened came as a shock to everyone.
One person close to Okunev recounted the contents of his suicide note to the reporters. According to that account, he wrote that there was another way, and the acquaintance understood the note to mean that Okunev wanted peace and no longer wished to live in the world as it was.