In connection with an explosion that destroyed a vital bridge connecting Russia and the seized Crimea, Russia has detained eight people.
Moscow views the explosion that occurred on the Kerch Strait Bridge on Saturday as a “terrorist attack” that was planned by Ukrainian secret services.
According to Interfax, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Wednesday that it had detained five Russians as well as three Ukrainian and Armenian nationals.
Rolls of plastic film containing explosives were shipped out of the Ukrainian port of Odesa in August, passing through Bulgaria, Georgia, and Armenia en route to Russia, according to the service.
The FSB charged Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, with orchestrating the attack.
Twelve additional people were found to be conspirators, according to TASS.
The explosion claimed the lives of at least four persons, according to the Russian news agency.
Although some Ukrainian officials praised the incident, Ukraine has not formally acknowledged its involvement.
A senior Ukrainian official brushed aside the inquiry by Russia.
Andriy Yusov, the interior minister’s spokesman, was quoted by Ukraine’s state television Suspilne as saying, “The entire operation of the FSB and Investigative Committee is nonsense.”
A portion of the 19 km (12 mi) long bridge was demolished, briefly halting both road traffic and many fuel tanks on a train coming from southern Russia towards the seized peninsula.
The bridge, a high-profile construction project that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally inaugurated in 2018, had proved logistically essential to his military campaign as supplies were sent through it to Russian troops fighting in south Ukraine.
According to local media, a 25-year-old Crimean man was the owner of the truck from which the explosion is believed to have come, according to Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, who was reporting from Moscow.
Because his uncle had been operating the truck, the man claims to be innocent, Vall said.
