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Cyprus Police Question Russian over Lebanon Disaster
[AnNahar] Cypriot police said Thursday they had questioned a Russian over alleged links to a ship and its cargo of ammonium nitrate said to have caused the devastating explosion in Beirut."Lebanese authorities asked us to locate the individual and ask him some questions which we did," a Cypriot police front man told AFP. "His response has been sent back to Leb  ...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...The police front man said Igor Grechushkin was not arrested, but asked specific questions relating to the ship's cargo as requested via Interpol Lebanon. "We have done what was requested from us," the official said. Earlier on Thursday, Cyprus' Interior Ministry denied media allegations that Grechushkin also held a Cypriot passport, but said it would offer assistance to Lebanon. Cypriot daily newspaper Politis said Grechushkin is a resident of the southern port city of Limassol -- one of the world's largest ship management centers. In 2013, around 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate came into Lebanon on board the Rhosus ship, sailing from Georgia and reportedly bound for Mozambique, a Lebanese security official told AFP, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the issue. Grechushkin had leased the ship, which docked at Beirut port with a small hole in its hull, The New York Times  ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... and other media have reported. Marine Traffic, a ship tracking platform, said the Moldova-flagged vessel first arrived in Beirut's port, the country's busiest, on November 20, 2013 and never left. According to Lebanese law firm Baroudi & Associates, which represented the vessel's crew, the Rhosus ship had faced "technical problems." Related: Igor Grechushkin: 2020-08-06 Russian fella Igor Grechushkin connection to Beirut Warehouse #12 blast Igor Grechushkin: 2020-08-06 Day 3: Lebanon in ‘state of emergency’ as Beirut blast death toll climbs to 135 Posted by: trailing wife 2020-08-07 |
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