Russian security services thwart terrorist attack on vessel from Belgium

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Russian security services have thwarted a terrorist attack aboard an explosives-rigged vessel that arrived at the Russian port of Ust-Luga from Belgium and was supposed to head to Turkey, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement.

"The Federal Security Service, acting together with the Investigative Committee, the Defense Ministry and the National Guard, thwarted a terrorist attack aboard the Arrhenius gas carrier, which arrived at the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad Region from the Belgian port of Antwerp to be loaded and then proceed to the Turkish port of Samsun," the statement reads.

According to Russian Investigative Committee Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, the vessel entered the sea port on May 20. During an inspection of the gas carrier’s underwater hull, divers discovered foreign objects with magnets, which were attached to the hull where the ship’s engine room is and looked like explosive devices. "An inspection involving an underwater drone, carried out by members of an interagency group of bomb experts, left no doubt that the items were indeed explosive devices similar to naval magnetic mines, which had presumably been made in a NATO country using industrially manufactured products," the FSB specified. According to the agency, each of the devices contained about seven kilograms of plastic explosives.

The ship’s captain said during questioning that "before being unloaded at the port of Antwerp, the ship’s agent sent the vessel to the anchorage, where it remained for about 36 hours, allegedly due to a dockworkers’ strike." "According to experts, the magnetic mines could not have been planted in Russia’s territorial waters," the FSB stated. Russian Investigative Committee Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko also emphasized that "the initial outcome of investigative activities makes it possible to conclude that the magnetic mines could not have been planted in Russian territorial waters."

The Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation based on two articles of the Russian Criminal Code, covering an attempted act of terrorism and illicit trafficking of explosive devices. "The necessary investigative and intelligence activities are currently underway aimed at identifying all those involved in the crime," Petrenko added.