At two in the morning on November 5, 2022, roughly 250 people were packed into the Poligon cafe in Kostroma, a historic city on the Volga River northeast of Moscow. What happened next took less than a minute to begin and less than an hour to become one of Russia's deadliest nightclub fires in recent memory. A flare gun was discharged inside the building. Fifteen people never made it out.
The Poligon was a popular nightlife venue in downtown Kostroma, a city of roughly 280,000 people in the Golden Ring region of central Russia. In the early hours of that Saturday morning, the cafe was operating at or near capacity. According to eyewitnesses, a man fired a flare gun inside the crowded space. The flare ignited interior materials, and within moments flames engulfed the room. More than 50 firefighters responded with over 20 fire engines, but by the time they arrived the building's interior was nearly destroyed. Survivors later reported that the fire alarm never sounded. Most of the 15 victims were found in the smoking room, a utility area, and near the restrooms, places where people likely sought escape routes that did not exist or were blocked.
Police quickly identified the suspect as 23-year-old Stanislav Ionkin, a reservist soldier who had recently returned from service in the war in Ukraine. He was arrested and charged with causing death by negligence. The circumstances surrounding why Ionkin discharged the flare gun inside the venue remain murky, but witness accounts and investigative reports pointed to a dispute. In March 2024, a Russian court sentenced Ionkin to 20 years in prison. The severity of the sentence reflected not only the scale of the tragedy but also growing public anger over reckless violence in civilian spaces.
The fire exposed problems far deeper than one man's reckless act. On November 11, 2022, a Moscow court ordered the arrest of Ikhtiyar Mirzoev, the cafe's owner, and Natalya Belenogova, who managed the company operating Poligon. Investigators found that the venue's fire safety systems were inadequate. The alarm that should have activated never did. Emergency exits were insufficient for the number of patrons. Russia has a grim history of nightclub and venue fires, from the 2009 Perm nightclub blaze that killed 156 people to smaller incidents that rarely make international headlines but steadily accumulate a toll. Each time, investigations reveal the same pattern: overcrowding, inadequate fire suppression, and building codes honored more in paperwork than in practice.
Sergey Sitnikov, governor of Kostroma Oblast, posted condolences on his Telegram channel and pledged assistance to the victims' families. The city, better known for its medieval churches, its monastery of St. Ipaty where the Romanov dynasty began, and its quiet position along the Volga, found itself the center of national grief. Memorial gatherings drew residents who laid flowers and candles near the burned-out shell of the building. For a city whose identity is tied to centuries of Russian history, the fire became another kind of marker, a reminder that modernity carries its own dangers. The nine survivors carried injuries and memories that no official condolence could address, and the families of the 15 who died were left to reckon with a night that should have been ordinary.
Located at 57.76N, 40.97E in the city of Kostroma, on the Volga River about 300 km northeast of Moscow. The city sits in flat terrain along the river. Nearest airport is Kostroma Sokerkino (USKK). From altitude, Kostroma is identifiable by its radial street plan and the confluence of the Kostroma River with the Volga. Best viewed at 3,000-5,000 feet for city detail.