The Supreme Court of Dagestan has toughened the sentence of Makhachkala resident Eldar Nasrulaev in connection with the explosion and fire in August 2023 that killed 33 people. The appellate court increased his prison term from five to eight and a half years, granting the prosecution’s appeal, which had argued that the original sentence was too lenient.
According to the report of republic’s joint press service of the courts on Wednesday, in November the Kumtorkalinsky District Court found Nasrulaev guilty under an article concerning the storage of goods that failed to meet safety requirements and negligently caused the deaths of more than two people. The court of first instance sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. Prosecutors appealed, insisting on a harsher penalty.
Nasrulaev’s defence argued that he could not have foreseen such grave consequences and had no intent to cause harm. However, the appellate court found the prosecution’s arguments well-founded and upheld the legal classification of the offence while increasing the sentence.
According to the prosecution, Nasrulaev had been unlawfully engaged in the sale of chemical fertilisers, including ammonium nitrate, without the required registration and permits. The substance was stored in premises not designed for that purpose. Case materials state that the warehouse lacked ventilation, a fire alarm system, and other essential fire safety measures.
Elizaveta Chukharova
On 14 August 2023, a fire broke out at the warehouse. As temperatures rose, the ammonium nitrate detonated. The blast wave damaged a nearby petrol station, where a further explosion subsequently occurred.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 33 people were killed in the incident, although earlier official reports cited 37 fatalities. More than 100 people sustained injuries of varying severity. A period of mourning was declared in the region.
The tragedy occurred in a suburb of Makhachkala, near the federal Kavkaz motorway, which links the regions of the North Caucasus.
Investigators established that the petrol station adjacent to the warehouse had also been operating in breach of safety regulations. According to prosecutors, the facility lacked a cooling system for its fuel tanks and was not connected to a fire-fighting water supply. The owner of the petrol station, Ibragim Shamkhalov, had previously been fined eight times for failing to comply with orders issued by the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The question of his criminal liability was considered separately.
Following the explosion, the authorities in Dagestan announced stricter oversight of petrol station operations. Inspections across the republic uncovered more than 17,000 violations, around 5,000 of which related to industrial and fire safety requirements. A number of facilities were temporarily closed pending rectification of the breaches.
Despite the declared measures, further incidents at petrol stations continued in the following months. On 27 September 2024, a fire broke out at a petrol station on the federal Kavkaz motorway near the settlement of Novy Khushet in Makhachkala, followed by two explosions. Thirteen people were killed. According to preliminary findings, the cause was a breach of equipment operating regulations.
In December 2024, another fire occurred at a petrol station in Makhachkala situated in close proximity to a wedding hall and a five-storey residential building. Such placement contravenes safety regulations requiring sanitary and fire safety buffer zones between hazardous facilities and residential development.
