MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has uncovered that the mastermind behind the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the head of Ukraine's military intelligence service, Kirill Budanov, and the explosives were delivered from Odessa via Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, the FSB’s Center for Public Relations told TASS on Wednesday.
"The Federal Security Service, together with the Investigative Committee, established that the organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and agents," the Center for Public Relations reported.
Deliveries from Odessa
As the FSB noted, citing operational information, the explosive device was disguised in rolls of construction polyethylene wraps on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22,770 kg. It was shipped from the seaport of Odessa to the Bulgarian city of Ruse in early August. The shipment was arranged through a contract dated August 2, 2022, between Translogistics UA LLC (Kiev) and Baltex Capital S.A. (Ruse).
"Ukrainian citizens Mikhail Vladimirovich Tsyurkalo, 47, Denis Olegovich Kovach, 43, Roman Ivanovich Solomko, 51, as well as Georgian citizens Sandro Inosaridze, a broker named Levan and an Armenian citizen Artur Terchanyan, 37, were involved in the transport of the cargo from Bulgaria to the port of Poti (Georgia), and then to Armenia," the FSB noted.
Between September 29 and October 3, the cargo went through customs in Yerevan at the Transalliance terminal in accordance with the EAEU rules, the old documents were replaced with new ones, where the consignor was GU ARJ Group Ltd (Republic of Armenia, Alaverdi) and the consignee was Lider Ltd (Moscow).
Afterwards, on October 4, the cargo on a DAF truck registered in Georgia passed through the Russian-Georgian border at the Upper Lars border crossing point and on October 6, the cargo was delivered and unloaded at the Armavir wholesale base in the Krasnodar Region.
On October 7, with assistance of Solomko, Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Vasilyevich Zlob, 35, and five other identified Russian citizens altered the documents of the cargo again, this time, the consignor was named LLC TEK-34 (Ulyanovsk), and the consignee was a non-existent firm in the Republic of Crimea.
On the same day, the pallets were loaded into the truck of Russian citizen Mahir Yusubov, 51, who left for Simferopol, and on October 8 at 06:03 Moscow time an explosion was carried out while he was driving over the Crimean Bridge.
Controlled by Ukraine's military intelligence service
As the FSB noted, "control over the movement of cargo along the entire route and contacts with the participants of the criminal scheme of transportation was carried out by an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, who introduced himself as "Ivan Ivanovich". To coordinate the plot, he used a virtual anonymous telephone number purchased on the Internet, which belonged to a Ukrainian citizen, who is a resident of Kremenchug, Sergey Vladimirovich Andreychenko, 34."
"At the moment, five Russian citizens, and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who participated in the preparation of the crime, have been detained," the FSB reported, "The investigation into the attack continues. All of its organizers and accomplices, including foreign nationals, will be prosecuted according to Russian law."