Security services thwarted a terrorist attack at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad Region, after discovering that the hull of a tanker coming from Belgium was covered in bombs, the press office of the Federal Security Service (FSB) said, TASS reported on May 25.
The FSB, in coordination with the Investigative Committee, the Defense Ministry, and the Russian National Guard, thwarted a terrorist attack on the Arrhenius gas carrier that had arrived from the Belgian port of Antwerp at the port of Ust-Luga in the Leningrad Region for loading, after which it was scheduled to continue on to the Turkish port of Samsun, the FSB press office said.
According to Russian Investigative Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko, the vessel entered the seaport on May 20. “During an underwater inspection of part of the gas carrier’s hull, divers discovered foreign objects attached to magnets near the engine room that resembled explosive devices,” according to the TASS summary. Upon closer inspection with an underwater drone, specialists from the interagency bomb disposal team determined that the objects were explosive devices manufactured in the style of naval magnetic mines, presumably in one of the NATO countries, using industrially produced components, the FSB emphasized. According to intelligence reports, each device contained approximately 7 kilograms of plastic explosive. During questioning of the vessel’s captain, it was revealed that, before unloading at the Belgian port, the shipping agent had directed the ship to an anchorage, where it remained for about a day-and-a-half, ostensibly due to a port workers’ strike.
According to experts’ assessments, the magnetic mines could not have been planted in Russian territorial waters, the FSB noted, an assessment with which the Investigative Committee agreed.
Through such attacks on energy infrastructure, the alliance is implementing a strategy aimed at confronting Russia, lawmakers told Izvestia, the TASS press review reports this morning. Members of the Federation Council stressed that Russia is moving to a new level of counterterrorism efforts. Attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure have become part of a full-fledged NATO strategy in its confrontation with Russia, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy Pavel Zavalny told Izvestia. According to him, reaching any agreement with Western countries on halting attacks against fuel infrastructure is currently impossible.
