US Ambassador: “a lot of speculation" regarding Crimea bridge blast
Degnan said the US embassy has been working with the Georgian customs service and border police, as well as the coast guard “for decades”, and has provided them with all the capabilities, equipment, teachings, and training to protect the country’s borders and stop the aggression. Photo: US embassy Tbilisi
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Kelly Degnan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia on Wednesday made comments on recent allegations by the Kremlin that said explosives used in the massive blast that damaged Russia’s bridge to the occupied Crimea on Saturday had been delivered through the Georgian territory and said there has been a “a lot of speculation” even without the mentioned information.
Degnan said the US embassy has been working with the Georgian customs service and border police, as well as the coast guard “for decades”, and has provided them with all the capabilities, equipment, teachings, and training to protect the country’s borders and stop the aggression.
The US ambassador noted the embassy would continue this cooperation.
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.
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.
Georgian deputy interior minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze on Wednesday said “no suspicious facts” had been observed at the country’s checkpoints, in comments on recent allegations by the Kremlin that alleged explosives used in the massive blast that damaged Russia’s bridge to the occupied Crimea on Saturday had been delivered through the territory of Georgia and several other countries.
Georgian deputy finance minister Giorgi Kakauridze on Wednesday dismissed recent allegations by the Kremlin that said explosives used in the massive blast that damaged Russia’s bridge to the occupied Crimea on Saturday had been delivered through the Georgian territory.