At 6:03 a.m. on October 8, an explosion rocked the Crimean Bridge – the only land link between annexed Crimea and mainland Russia. The train that caught fire was still on fire when the explanation for the incident, which was highly embarrassing for the Kremlin, was already being heard from Moscow. The Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a truck had exploded. As a result, seven fuel tanks caught fire on the train that was traveling on the track at the time.
An explanation of which there are massive doubts. But as is so often the case, if a course is set from Moscow, there is no turning back. And so the Russian secret service FSB, which is responsible for protecting the bridge and which now has to put up with the accusation of a massive failure, has been trying to provide evidence for the theory from Moscow in the past few days. (Read here why the FSB will have to answer for the explosion.)
On Wednesday, the FSB presented the results of its efforts: Four days after the explosion, the domestic secret service brought eight arrested men who are said to have carried out the “terrorist attack”. As luck would have it, President Vladimir Putin announced days ago that the Ukrainian military intelligence service was responsible for the attack and spoke of a “terrorist attack”.
According to the FSB version, the explosives were hidden in rolls of construction polyethylene film. The cargo left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on a boat for Bulgaria in September. Via the Georgian port of Poti, she then went overland through Armenia and finally to Russia. On October 7, the explosives are said to have finally been loaded onto a truck that was making its way from Krasnodar towards Simferopol.
To support its version of events, the FSB released footage from a surveillance camera purporting to show the inspection of the truck in question – before the truck was allowed to cross the Crimean Bridge on the morning of October 8. Judging by the recording, the entire process took only a few seconds: The driver got out, opened the truck doors, a police officer looked inside and the truck was able to continue on its way.
A supposed X-ray of the truck is also intended to give weight to the representation of the FSB. However, the image also published on Wednesday does not match the video recording that is supposed to show the inspection of the truck. Research by the joint verification team from stern and RTL shows that the tractor has a total of three axles when checked in the video, two of them at the rear. However, only one rear axle can be seen on the X-ray published by the FSB.
The X-ray also lacks a kind of grid under the semitrailer. The position of the spare wheel is also clear on the x-ray, so it does not match the position on the surveillance video.
It is also noticeable that the so-called drawbar support of the trailer seems to have been folded down, i.e. it is in the parking position. “Normally, it supports the trailer when there is no tractor hanging in front of it,” explains RTL verification expert Jonas Gerhards. In most cases, unfolding is done by cranking the handle by hand. And only when the trailer is parked. “So why go to all that trouble for the short X-ray screening of the truck?”
So the video and the X-ray do not show the same truck – contrary to what the FSB claims. Analyst Oliver Alexander also comes to this conclusion. “The truck visible in the surveillance video footage is an International ProStar with dual rear axles. The truck in the X-ray had only one,” he wrote on Twitter.
Earlier, the opposition Telegram channel Baza reported that the man behind the wheel of the exploded truck was driving an International ProStar. Therefore, there are suspicions that the X-ray does not show the exploded truck, but the one that, according to the FSB, brought the explosive device across the border between Georgia and Russia. Baza released a shot meant to show this truck.
Also read:
