site.btaUPDATED Crimea Bridge Blast Truck Has Never Been in Bulgaria - Bulgarian Government

It has been established beyond doubt that the trucks suspected in the October 8 explosion on the Crimea bridge, has never been in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian government press office said Tuesday. The statement cited the findings of a check done by the Bulgarian security service by an order of Prime Minister Galab Donev.

Aleksandr Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, was reported saying that a truck suspected in the Crimea bridge bombing had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, and Russia's North Ossetia region and Krasnodar, among other places. Following that, media reports alleged that the starting point of the truck's itinerary was in Bulgaria and that it carried polyethelene foil.

The Bulgarian services have established that a cargo similar to the one describes in the media reports entered Bulgaria as transit shipment from another EU member state in a container with all the requisite documents. During its stay in Bulgaria the goods were under customs control and left the country in the same container, via the Port of Burgas, on September 17, heading for a country that was not Russia.

The check also established that the container in which the said goods left Bulgaria, was not on the truck involved in the explosion.

All information on the case has been forwarded to the prosecution magistracy, said the government press office.

It goes on to say that the government "will not allow any association of the name of Bulgaria with terrorist activity".