Russians say ‘foreigners helped’ Ukrainian special forces before explosion on Crimean bridge – VG

Russian citizens, along with foreigners, helped the Ukrainian special forces prepare for the attack, said Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee.

The Crimean Bridge, the road connecting Russia with the annexed Crimea, is one of Putin’s most prestigious projects. It partially collapsed after a powerful explosion on Saturday morning.

– Undermining the Crimean bridge is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying Russia’s vital infrastructure, Putin said Sunday evening, according to the state-controlled channel NTV.

The Russians are now suggesting that it was a truck that exploded on the Crimean Bridge. According to Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Russian Investigative Committee, the truck must have passed through Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar in southern Russia before driving over the bridge.

Bastrykin also claims that Russian citizens along with foreigners helped the Ukrainian special forces prepare for the attack.

Partially reopened

The Russian authorities announced, on Saturday evening, that the bridge exists Partially reopened Limited car and train traffic after the blast, according to Reuters. Trucks are currently being moved, while the Russians claim that train traffic “was back on track” on Sunday evening.

FSB rules

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the FSB intelligence service to take control of security at the Crimean Bridge after the violent explosion on Saturday.

In a decree issued on Saturday evening, Putin wrote that the FSB “is empowered to organize and coordinate protective measures for the transport route through the Kerch Strait.”

At the moment, traffic only passes over some parts of the bridge.

indicates sabotage

– This must be a well-planned sabotage operation that is able to destroy both railways and roads. Here, the explosive charges must be placed on the support beams in several places. The Ukrainian special forces are most likely behind them, Lt. Col. Pale Yedestibo, the Swedish Military Academy’s expert on land warfare, told VG yesterday.

Another theory, which Russian authorities hinted earlyis that a truck full of explosives caused the explosion.

– According to preliminary information, this morning a truck exploded in the car part of the Crimean embankment from the Taman side, igniting seven fuel tanks of a freight train heading towards the Crimea. As a result, two extended cars partially collapsed, Svetlana Petrenko of the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.