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Ukrainian embassy in Georgia denies Kiev had hand in smuggling of explosives into Russia

"We express our interest in and readiness to provide constructive cooperation with law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities of Georgia for the purpose of conducting an objective, unbiased and comprehensive investigation into all of the circumstances of the case, as well as the identification of its real organizers," the embassy said

TBILISI, February 6. /TASS/. The Ukrainian embassy in Tbilisi has expressed its readiness to cooperate with Georgia in efforts to clarify the details of a case involving the attempted smuggling of explosives into Russia, the diplomatic mission said in a comment.

"The embassy of Ukraine is verifying the information voiced at the briefing of the Georgian State Security Service, clarifying all the circumstances, especially what concerns, as stated, the involvement of Ukrainian citizens in illegal activities. The embassy expects the Georgian side to refrain from politicizing this case. We express our interest in and readiness to provide constructive cooperation with law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities of Georgia for the purpose of conducting an objective, unbiased and comprehensive investigation into all of the circumstances of the case, as well as the identification of its real organizers," the embassy said in a statement posted to its website.

On Monday, the Georgian State Security Service said that Georgian law enforcement agencies had seized a cargo of explosives en route from the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa to the southern Russia city of Voronezh through the territories of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. The explosive devices contained military-grade C-4 plastic explosives, which can be set off with an electric detonator and a special timer. The total weight of the explosives was 14 kilograms.

According to the Georgian security services, at some point the plan of the organizers changed, and they decided to send one container with three explosive devices to Russia, but the second container, also with three explosive devices, was to be left in Tbilisi at a specific address. The cargo, which was destined for Russia, was stopped by Georgian authorities when the vehicle was attempting to cross the border. The agency specified that seven citizens of Georgia, three citizens of Ukraine and two citizens of Armenia were implicated in the illegal import of explosives into Georgian territory, while the operation itself was supervised by Andrey Sharashidze, a Ukrainian citizen who had run for a seat on the Odessa Region legislative council as a candidate of Ukraine’s ruling Servant of the People party in 2020.

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