Ukrainian terrorists behind the attack must be annihilated, said Dmitry Medvedev
The only way Russia can respond to Ukraine’s deadly attack on the Crimean Bridge is by eliminating the culprits who orchestrated the explosion, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, said on Sunday.
In an interview with the Russian media, Medvedev, who is now the deputy head of the Security Council, made it clear that he had no doubts about who was behind the explosion that hit the strategic link between the Russian peninsula of Crimea and the mainland of the country.
“This crime was commissioned and executed by the failed state of Ukraine. This is a terrorist act and sabotage committed by the criminal regime of kyiv.”, he said, adding that the authorities had already reached their conclusion.
“Russia’s response to this crime can only be the elimination of terrorists. In a way that is accepted in the world.”, he reiterated.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukrainian intelligence was behind the deadly attack on the bridge when he met with the head of the National Investigative Committee, Aleksandr Bastrykin.
Bastrykin reported that “this was a terrorist act organized by the Ukrainian security services”, whose objective was to destroy important civil infrastructure.
On Saturday, two US media outlets, the New York Times and the Washington Post, citing sources, also claimed that the explosion was orchestrated by the Ukrainian intelligence services.
At the same time, Ukrainian officials stopped short of claiming responsibility for the attack but applauded the blast, with an aide to President Vladimir Zelensky, Mikhail Podoliak, saying it was “just the beginning,” adding that “everything illegal must be destroyed.”
The powerful explosion rocked the bridge early on Saturday, killing at least three people and causing a partial collapse of the highway section, as well as a fire on a parallel rail section where seven fuel tanks caught fire. The explosion caused the temporary interruption of road and rail traffic, although both had resumed on Saturday night.