Ukrainian intelligence chief receives Russian arrest warrant for bridge attack

A Russian court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the head of Ukrainian intelligence services for the explosion on the Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia with Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014.

The object of the arrest warrant Kirill Budanov heads the Main Directorate of the Secret Service of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

“The court granted the investigators’ motion to apply a measure of restraint to Budanov,” official sources cited by the Russian TASS news agency said, adding that the head of the Ukrainian intelligence services is suspected of “participation” in the “terrorist attack on the Kerch Bridge,” Russia’s only link to Crimea.

Thus, they clarified that Budanov “has been put on the international wanted list” after being charged by the Russian investigative commission with crimes related to the terrorist attack, including organizing the terrorist attack itself, creating a “terrorist group” and trafficking in explosives and weapons.

The Kerch Bridge was severely damaged on October 8 last year by a truck explosion, with the partial destruction of the structure one of the most symbolic strikes against Russia since its offensive into Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022, began. by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Opened in 2018 by Putin in 2018, the 19-kilometer-long structure, which includes a railway line and a road, has been one of the most important infrastructure facilities on the peninsula since its annexation in 2014, as well as a symbolic and practical example of connecting this territory to Russia.

Also this Friday, Russian justice issued a warrant in absentia for the arrest in absentia of Bulgarian Hristo Grozev, a journalist and researcher at Bellingcat, an Internet site that specializes in verification of data and information from open sources.

The Lefortovo Court of Moscow imposed a two-month preventive measure on Grozev, which will take effect from the moment the journalist is extradited to Russia, although it is unlikely that this will happen.

Grozev, a close associate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is charged with illegally crossing the border under articles 33 and 322 of the Russian Criminal Code, Interfax was told in court.

In late 2022, the Russian Interior Ministry issued a search and arrest warrant for a journalist that revealed the alleged involvement of Russian intelligence services in the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny.

The Bulgarian journalist has been living in Austria for years, a country that has had good relations with the Kremlin in the past but whose security services now guard Grozev.

In January of this year, the reporter told the Bulgarian parliament that he could not return to his country, where he said Russian agents abounded, and stated that he did not know the reason for his persecution, stressing that such a measure posed a threat to all those who investigates related cases. with the Russian state.

He was most likely blacklisted by the Kremlin after one of his latest investigations identified 33 Russian soldiers who programmed the missiles that Russia uses to attack Ukraine, the journalist said.

Hristo Grozev, 53, was also involved in investigations that identified two Russian officers allegedly involved in the 2014 crash of Malasia Airlines MH17/MAS17 while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people.

He also led investigative journalism that uncovered a group of Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers allegedly involved in the 2016 Montenegro coup plot.