The Federal Security Service of Russia announced on Wdnesday that it had arrested five citizens of Russia and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia as part of the investigation of the “terrorist attack” on the Crimean bridge on October 8. According to Russian security, the names of the accomplices have also been identified and two of them were citizens of Georgia.
Per the statement published on the official website of the Federal Security Service of Russia, “together with the Russian Investigative Committee, it has been established that the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and agencies are the organizers of the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge.”
The Russian security claimed that “the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls of construction polyethylene” and was sent in early August from the port of Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse, based on the contract of the Ukrainian company Translogistics and the Bulgarian Baltex Capital.
It said that “Ukrainian citizens, Mikhail Tsurkalo born in 1975, Denis Kovach born in 1979, Roman Solomko born in 1971, Georgian citizens Sandro Inosaridze and a broker named Levan were involved in the organization of cargo forwarding from Bulgaria to the port of Poti in Georgia, and then to Armenia, also a citizen of Armenia, Artur Terchanian, born in 1985”.
The Russian Federal Security Service said that from September 29 to October 3, the cargo was cleared at the Yerevan terminal and the documents were changed, after which the sender of the cargo became the company “Gu Arji Group” registered in Armenia, and the recipient Leader registered in Moscow.
According to the version of the Russian security, after that the cargo crossed the Russian-Georgian border at the Zemo Larsi point on October 4 with a DAF truck registered in Georgia, was loaded and unloaded at the wholesale base of the city of Armavir, Krasnodar region, on October 7, and on October 7 Roman Solomko, another citizen of Ukraine , with the help of Vladimir Zloba and five citizens of Russia, the cargo documents were changed again and the company “Tech-34” registered in the city of Ulyanovsk was indicated as the sender, and a company that does not exist in Crimea as the receiver.
According to the statement of the Federal Security Service of Russia, on October 7, cargo was transferred to the truck of Russian citizen Makhir Yusubov, which was headed for Simferopol, and on October 8, it was blown up on the Crimean bridge.