Russian Federal Security Service says Crimean bridge blast sent from Odessa via Bulgaria

According to the Russian Federal Security Service, the explosive used in the Crimean Bridge blast was sent from Odessa via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, Russian news agency TASS reported on October 12. The Head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kirill Budanov, was named as the mastermind of the explosion.

The TASS report said the explosive device was hidden in rolls of construction polyethylene film loaded on 22 pallets weighing a total of more than 22 tonnes. It had been shipped from the Odessa seaport to Rousse in early August under a contract between a Ukrainian firm and a Rousse-based company listed as Baltex Capital S.A. The information further states that the cargo was transferred from Bulgaria to the Georgian port of Poti and then to Armenia. The control of the cargo movement along the entire route and the contacts with the participants in the scheme was carried out by a Ukrainian, according to the disclosures. Five Russian and three Ukrainian and Armenian citizens were detained for involvement in the explosion, which Moscow described as an act of terrorism, the Federal Security Service said.

Ukrainian citizens Mikhail Tsurkalo, Denis Kovach and Roman Solomko, Georgian citizens Sandro Inosaridze and a broker named Levan, as well as Armenian citizen Artur Terchanyan were involved in organizing the transfer of the cargo from Bulgaria to Georgia and then to Armenia, the FSS statement said. During the further transportation of the cargo, documents were replaced by changing the details of the companies listed as the consignor and consignee.

The investigation continues. All organisers and accomplices, including foreign citizens, will be brought to justice in accordance with Russian law, the statement said as quoted by TASS. Less than two days after the bridge explosion, Moscow reported that the route of the blown-up lorry had been established and Bulgaria was named as the country through which it had passed. Information that was firmly refuted by Bulgarian authorities and services.

Caretaker PM: Bulgaria is not complicit in the preparation of the Crimean Bridge explosion