Moscow, Oct 09 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin today accused the Ukrainian secret service of Saturday’s “terrorist act” against the Crimean bridge, which caused partial damage to the only infrastructure connecting the annexed Ukrainian peninsula with Russia and in which foreign countries would be involved.
“There is no doubt that this is a terrorist act aimed at destroying a civilian infrastructure of crucial importance for the Russian Federation,” he said during a meeting with the president of the Russian commission of inquiry, Alexander Bastrikin.
“Perpetrators, executors and clients are Ukraine’s secret service,” Putin noted.
The head of the Investigative Committee clarified that in the “terrorist act” of the Ukrainian secret service “Russian citizens and foreign countries helped in the preparation”.
“We have already established the route of the truck that exploded. This is Bulgaria, this is Georgia, this is Armenia, North Ossetia, the Krasnodar Territory,” Bastrikin noted.
He indicated that with the help of the Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB), it was possible to identify “suspects among those who could prepare a terrorist attack”.
The head of the commission of inquiry explained that a criminal case for “terrorism” was opened after the explosion on the bridge.
“We have opened a file under the second part of article 205 “Terrorism” and this is confirmed by the data from the initial phase of the investigation”, he underlined.
Russian authorities are investigating the explosion
Bastrikin maintained that numerous witnesses, including eyewitnesses, were interviewed, special expert studies were launched, and an explosive, genetic and forensic examination was carried out.
All reviews are now largely complete, he added.
He also pointed out that relevant instructions had been given to the FSB and the Russian Interior Ministry to carry out searches and search for the suspects.
According to the official Russian version, early Saturday morning a truck exploded on the automobile part of the bridge, causing a fire in seven fuel tanks of a tank train on the railway side of the infrastructure.
Two sections of the highway’s roadway collapsed during the attack, which left at least three people dead, according to the Investigation Committee.
Ukraine, which sarcastically celebrated the explosion, has so far confirmed neither its involvement nor its responsibility.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), to which Putin and Bastrikin refer, wrote on its Telegram channel on Saturday a quote paraphrasing Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. “The bridge burns beautifully at dawn. A nightingale meets the SBU in Crimea,” reads the text.
Ukrainian media such as Ukrainska Pravda or the Ukrinform and Unian agencies had already indicated the day before that, according to their sources, the SBU was behind the explosion.
Putin convenes the Security Council on Monday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet the Security Council tomorrow, Monday, two days after a strong explosion partially destroyed the Crimean Bridge, the only one connecting the annexed Ukrainian peninsula to Russia.
“Tomorrow the president will hold a meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today.
He did not specify whether the meeting, of which only the president’s introductory speech is normally broadcast on public television, will discuss the situation of the bridge, but normally these types of meetings are held more in the middle or at the end of the week.
Web edition: Marina González