Georgian security services announce seizure of cargo with explosives allegedly being transported from Ukraine to Russia
Tbilisi, Georgia (Svidomi) — The State Security Service of Georgia has announced the detention of a cargo allegedly containing explosives that were being transported from the city of Odesa in the south of Ukraine to the Russian city of Voronezh "for the purpose of committing terrorist acts".
The Georgian intelligence services claim that the explosives were brought from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa via Romania, Bulgaria and Türkiye to Georgia on January 19 this year in a minivan belonging to a Ukrainian citizen. The explosive devices were allegedly planned to be transported to Russia, specifically to the city of Voronezh in western Russia. (The nearest city to Voronezh is the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which is more than 350 kilometres away. Odesa is more than a thousand kilometres away — ed.)
The Georgian side claims that the customer later changed the decision: one container with three explosive devices was to be taken to Voronezh, while the second container with three explosives was left in Tbilisi. The investigation does not know whether they were to be transported to Russia later or left in Georgia.
According to them, seven citizens of Georgia are involved in the case; three of them are Ukrainians, and two are Armenian. The whole thing was allegedly organised by a citizen of Ukraine who was born in Batumi, a city in Georgia. He was allegedly the only one who knew about the explosives in the cars.
The total weight of the explosives is allegedly 14 kg. The containers contained military-grade C-4 explosives with detonators. All six devices were manufactured by a high-level specialist and "designed for a wide range of destruction".
Now, the Georgian side believes that the circumstances of the case "give reason to believe" that the territory of Georgia and Georgian citizens were involved in the whole process to accuse the country of terrorist acts that could allegedly have been carried out with these explosives.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the statements of the Georgian side.
