Tbilisi mayor calls “complete nonsense” Russia’s claims on use of Georgia to transport explosives

Tbilisi mayor and secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream party Kakha Kaladze on Wednesday called “complete nonsense” the recent allegations by the Kremlin as if the explosives, used in the massive blast damaging Russia’s bridge to the occupied Crimea on Saturday, had been delivered through the territory of Georgia. "This is complete nonsense and has nothing to do with Georgia”, Kaladze told reporters.

• Deputy interior minister on Russia’s claims on use of Georgia to transport explosives: “no suspicious facts observed”

The Russian federal security service on Wednesday said it had arrested five citizens of Russia and three Ukrainian and Armenian nationals as part of its investigation into what president Vladimir Putin has labelled a “terrorist attack”. The service claimed  Georgian citizen Sandro Inosaridze and a broker only named through his first name Levan had facilitated the transportation along with Ukrainian, Russian and Armenian citizens. 

After accusing the Ukrainian intelligence service of organising the attack, the Russian state agency claimed 22,770 kg of explosives had been sent from Ukraine’s Odesa port to Bulgaria in August, with the cargo later transported through the territories of Georgia and Armenia before reaching its final destination.