FSB: Ukraine’s Chief of Intelligence Budanov behind Crimean bridge explosion

Russia’s FSB has accused Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Defence Ministry Intelligence, of organising the Crimean bridge explosion, Interfax reports.

A total of 12 persons responsible for the explosion have been identified; eight of them have been detained, the FSB says. Those are “five Russian nationals and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia,” claims the agency.

The explosives were rigged inside rolls of polythene wrap on 22 pallets weighing over a ton each loaded into a truck. Those were shipped from Odesa to Bulgaria’s Ruse in early August. Nationals of Ukraine, Georgia, and Armenia were involved in transporting the cargo, the FSB says.

The Kerch strait bridge, connecting mainland Russia and Crimea, suffered an explosion on 8 October. Part of the bridge collapsed, and a freight train transporting fuel caught fire. Four people were killed by the explosion, Russia’s authorities say, including the truck’s driver, a couple inside a passing-by car, and Sergey Maslov, the judge for Moscow’s Arbitration Court.

Vladimir Putin called the Crimean bridge explosion “a terror attack against Russia’s essential infrastructure” and accused Ukraine’s secretive agencies of preparing the attack. Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, also added that “Ukrainian nationals, as well as citizens of Russia and other countries, were involved.” A criminal procedure on the case of terrorism was initiated.