Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday it had detained eight people over the destruction of the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula on Saturday. According to the agency, the main heir to the Soviet KGB, five Russian citizens and three from Ukraine and Armenia were arrested.
The FSB further said that the blast was organized by Ukrainian military intelligence and its director, Cirilo Budanov. The bomb would have been transported from Ukraine to Russia via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia.
The agency also said it had prevented Ukrainian attacks on Moscow and the western city of Briansk.
Ukraine has not confirmed its involvement in the bridge explosion, but some army officials in the country celebrated the damage on social media. The FSB investigation was described as absurd by a government official, Interior Ministry spokesman Andrii Iusov, according to Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne.
The explosion destroyed part of the highway, temporarily bringing traffic to a halt. It also caused a fire in seven tanks of a train carrying fuel. At least three people, who would have been in a car next to the vehicle, died, according to preliminary information.
The structure over the Kertch Strait is considered a crucial supply route for Vladimir Putin’s troops in the invaded country.
The bridge had been inaugurated in 2018, four years after the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and represented one of the symbols of the union between the two territories. Putin attended the pompous inauguration and called the connection over the Kerch Strait, which separates the Black and Azov seas, a miracle.
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