Russia says intercepted another cargo ship over traces of explosives

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it found traces of explosives on board a civilian vessel en route from Turkey to a Russian port over suspected involvement in smuggling arms to Ukraine.

In a statement on its website on Thursday, the FSB said the BMO River cargo ship, which had been traveling between the Turkish port of Sinop and Russia's Rostov-on-Don, had been ordered to leave Russian waters on Wednesday following the detection of traces of explosives.

"The foreign ship may have been used earlier to transport explosive substances to Ukraine" based on the test results and its record of visiting the Ukrainian port of Reni in June and July, the FSB said.

It added that the transport link had been attacked twice in the past year over what it called "Ukrainian terrorist attacks."

The suspicious compounds were identified as the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitro (DNT), which is used in TNT production.

The FSB said on Monday that it had found traces of explosives on another ship traveling from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don. The agency similarly claimed that the vessel may have been previously involved in smuggling weapons to Ukraine.

In a statement last week, Russia warned that all ships traveling to Ukraine are considered to be potentially carrying weapons and military equipment, and thus be part of the current war in the ex-Soviet republic.

Russia's defense ministry said from July 20 on, it would deem all Ukraine-bound vessels to be potentially carrying arms on behalf of Kiev, and consequently "the flag countries of such ships will be considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict."

SS