TBILISI, October 12. /TASS/. Georgia has nothing to do with the incident regarding the deadly blast at the Crimean Bridge last week and denies allegations concerning a possible transit of explosives in a truck across its territory, Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Darakhvelidze told journalists on Wednesday.
"Georgia has nothing to do with the case at the issue. Both transit and non-transit cargoes in Georgia are subjected to inspections on behalf of the [Georgian] Customs Service, but such dubious fact [about the smuggling of explosives] was not registered," Darakhvelideze said.
On October 9, the chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, stated that the route of the truck at the issue and its route were established. The vehicle left Bulgaria for Georgia, from where it proceeded to Armenia, North Ossetia and the Krasnodar Territory.
Georgian Deputy Finance Minister Georgy Kakauridze said earlier in the day that the truck, which exploded at the Crimean Bridge, was never registered passing via the Georgian Customs Service’s checkpoints.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Center for Public Relations told TASS earlier on Wednesday it had 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.
On the morning of October 8, a truck exploded on the Crimean Bridge, collapsing two eastbound parts of its road section and subsequently setting ablaze a train of fuel tanks on a separate, adjacent rail portion of the bridge.
As a result of the blast, three people were killed. A government commission chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin was set up after the incident. Rail traffic has been restored on the bridge, which was also partly reopened for buses and automobiles.