MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. The collective West is the primary beneficiary of the terrorist attack on the Russian ship Ursa Major in the Mediterranean Sea, military expert Alexander Stepanov told TASS.
"We have witnessed an act of sabotage already confirmed by the owners of the ship. The methods used to carry out this international crime have not yet been identified, but its deliberate and unlawful nature is obvious. What objectives does the adversary achieve? Who is the final beneficiary? First of all, it is, of course, the collective West: the forces that have been trying to retain control of shipping routes and to expel not only Russian, but also Chinese and Iranian influence from international waters," Stepanov, the program director of the Academy of Political Sciences, and senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said.
He emphasized that for this purpose, for a long time both NATO and the US Navy have been conducting various drills in key water areas - the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and the northern areas with a focus on the Arctic zone, and in the Asia-Pacific region.
"Remote mining is being carried out. The use of underwater attack drones is being practiced. A whole range of relevant products has been put into service - both products from the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense and the manufactured model of the German company Seafox, which has already been delivered to more than 10 countries. These are underwater suicide drones. It’s an underwater version of the FPV drones in use. Their ranges vary, but in narrow straits, they are enough to target surface vessels, as well as, say, coastal port infrastructure, both civilian and military," he speculated.
Stepanov emphasized that "the goal of the enemy’s terrorist campaign on international shipping routes was to disrupt trade and economic cooperation."
"It is noteworthy that the sinking of a particular ship from Oboronlogistics solves the task of incapacitating very important components of our civilian fleet," he said.
The expert recalled that "the enemy within the framework of its naval exercises regularly scanned the seabed in the relevant zones of key interest, expanding opportunities for such acts of sabotage and establishing them on a consistent, systematic basis."
"We can look at all of this in the context of the reports on the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. It was a specific sabotage operation against the international maritime energy infrastructure. The current trend is towards the destruction of Russia’s surface fleet and fleets of other competing parties in relation to the collective West," he concluded.
Ursa Major wreck
The Ursa Major dry cargo ship wrecked in the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's crisis and situation analysis center, the ship sank after an explosion in the engine room. The incident occurred in international waters between Spain and Algeria. Fourteen crew members out of the 16 were rescued. Two are missing.
Earlier, the press service of the Western Interregional Investigation Directorate for Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee told TASS that Russian investigators had launched criminal proceedings. Oboronlogistics' press service told TASS that the company blamed Ursa Major’s loss on a terrorist attack.
According to testimonies by the vessel's crew, on December 23, 2024 at 1:50 pm Moscow time (10:50 am GMT) there were three consecutive explosions on the starboard side in the area of the stern. The vessel developed a 25-degree list - a clear sign water had begun to flood the ship's compartments.