Expert: Russia acted nobly by transferring space survey materials to Lebanon – International Panorama
BEIRUT, November 22. / Corr. TASS Dmitry Zelenin /. Russia has committed a noble deed, transferred to Lebanon images taken from satellites on August 4, 2020 on the day of the explosion in the seaport of Beirut. This opinion was expressed on Monday in an interview with a TASS correspondent by Lebanese General Charles Abi Nader, who is considered an expert on strategic issues.
“Such a step is typical for Russia and its President Vladimir Putin,” he noted. “Unlike the United States and a number of other Western countries, for unknown reasons they did not fulfill their promise, Russia immediately responded to the request of the Lebanese side.” General, admitting that “objective control data with a satellite monitoring system for Lebanese investigators to determine the movement in the port and establish the circumstances of the explosion.” “From a technical point of view, these images will allow to exclude one or another put forward version of the crime of the cause of this emergency,” he said.
According to Abi Nader, “the Lebanese are grateful to the Russian side, because the establishment of the truth in the explosion in the seaport reduces the political tension that has arisen around the work of the commission of inquiry.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a press conference following talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, said that Russia had transferred to the Lebanese side satellite images taken on the day of the explosion in the port of Beirut, and expressed the hope that this would help in investigation of emergency. Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said last week that the state corporation had prepared photographs of the port of Beirut from space, despite not receiving an official request.
On August 4, 2020, in the seaport of the Lebanese capital, the capacity of which amounted to 1,500 tons of TNT equivalent. The blast wave destroyed and damaged thousands of houses within and outside the city, 219 people died, 6.5 thousand were injured, More than 300 thousand citizens were left homeless. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lebanon, the cause of the explosion was over 2.7 thousand rubles, which occurred during welding. tons of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse.
According to a poll conducted by local human rights activists, 67% of Lebanese believe that government officials and corruption prevailing in the state are now a disaster, while in excess of 20% of respondents from the republics, a sabotage was committed on August 4, 2020.