You get the same orange fumes from nitrous explosives. Nitrous oxides in air react to form nitric acid, very bad to breathe in. So I think this would be banned outside Russia.
A friend was once bothered by a kid on a trail bike outside his back fence. He asked me whether a .22 bullet could set off a petrol tank explosion. When I asked why he said "because I'm going to take pot shots at the little b.... but I don't want to kill him".
I flew into Stockholm and Copenhagen last week as a passenger and saw two airports that had windrows of something across them to prevent use. I can't remember quite where they were. I suspect that they are unused military fields that can be quickly reinstated by a front end loader if the neighbours get restless.
Pilots who do things that cause death then immediately regret what they have done are very rare. Most do not survive to the regret stage. He should be studied forensically.