Interpol Issues Notices for Two Russians over Deadly Explosion in Beirut

Interpol has issued wanted notices for two Russians and a Portuguese man over the explosion at the port of the Lebanese city of Beirut, which occurred on 4 August 2020, destroying almost half of the city, causing USD 15 billion in damage to the region and killing more than 170 people.

There were two explosions. A total of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate confiscated from the cargo ship Rhosus, which had been stored at the port since 2013, detonated in a second, more powerful explosion. In connection with the incident, Interpol issued wanted notices for Russian owner of the Rhosus ship, Igor Grechushkin, and the ship’s captain Boris Prokoshev.

A special commission is now working to establish all the circumstances of the tragedy. In particular, experts from the University of Sheffield in the UK claim that the devastating blast produced 1.5 kilotonnes of TNT, being an approximate equivalent of 10% of the explosive power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945.

As a reminder, Russian propagandists and pro-Russian media outlets in the occupied territories of Donbas spread the news hinting that two Ukrainian ships, which could have been at the epicenter of the explosion in Beirut (Lebanon), carried explosives and allegedly caused the tragedy.

Natalia Tolub