After the explosion on the Crimean bridge, the Russian domestic intelligence service presented eight arrests along with photos of the alleged explosives truck. The Ukrainian military intelligence service succinctly comments on the results. In fact, there are doubts.
The Ukrainian leadership rejects the Russian investigation into the explosion on the Crimean bridge. All activities of the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB and the investigative committee are nonsense, said Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the military intelligence service in Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne. The FSB and the committee of inquiry only served the Putin regime, says Jussow, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “As such, we will definitely not comment on her next statements.” According to the FSB, the explosion on the bridge was organized by the Main Intelligence Department of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The FSB had previously announced that eight people had been arrested in connection with the serious explosion on the Crimean bridge. The Interfax news agency reported, citing the FSB, that there were five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia. The explosion was organized by the main intelligence department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and its director Kyrylo Budanov. The explosive device was brought to Russia from Ukraine via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia. According to the FSB, it prevented Ukrainian attacks in Moscow and the western Russian city of Bryansk.
Assessments are already circulating on Twitter that cast doubt on the Russian evidence. According to the FSB report, the truck with the explosive charge was checked and X-rayed on the morning of October 8 before driving onto the bridge. According to the Russian secret service, the explosives are said to have been hidden on the loading area between pallets loaded with film rolls. The Russian secret service published a video of the truck inspection and an allegedly matching X-ray image. However, the X-ray of the truck in question does not appear to match the truck’s surveillance video, Twitter users sneered. The RTL/ntv verification team also expressed doubts about the two alleged documents. When the video is checked, the tractor has a total of three axles, two of them at the rear, and only one rear axle can be seen on the X-ray.
The government in Kyiv has not yet officially commented on whether it played a role in the detonation on Saturday. However, some government officials have openly expressed their sympathy for the crime. Immediately afterwards, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the Ukrainian secret service and ordered airstrikes on Ukrainian cities. As a result, on Monday there was extensive rocket fire, including on the capital Kyiv, which was largely spared after an initial offensive at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on February 24.
The 19-kilometer Crimean Bridge crosses the Kerch Strait, a strait between the Black and Azov Seas. Putin’s prestige project was launched in 2018, four years after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. The bridge plays a crucial role in Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, because a significant part of the supplies for the soldiers in the Crimea and in the largely occupied southern Ukrainian region of Kherson are delivered via it from the Russian mainland. Crimea has repeatedly been the target of Ukrainian counterattacks in recent months.
