Once again on the Gatchina discharge and ball lightning (comments on G D Shabanov's paper “On the possibility of making natural ball lightning using a new pulse discharge type in the laboratory” [Phys. Usp. 62 92 (2019); Usp. Fiz. Nauk 189 95 (2019)])

We show that a recent paper by Shabanov [Phys. Usp. 62 92 (2019); Usp. Fiz. Nauk 189 95 (2019)] contains several important unsubstantiated and erroneous statements. In particular, the estimate of the average ball lightning charge presented in that paper corresponds to an impossible situation with an approximately 100-fold excess of the electric field strength near the outer boundary of the ball lightning over the air breakdown field under nearly standard conditions.