Overview
- Russia's FSB reported that divers found foreign magnetic objects near the engine room of the Liberia-flagged LPG tanker Arrhenius while it was docked at Ust-Luga and that the devices were rendered safe by security services.
- The Investigative Committee described the recovered items as factory-made naval magnetic mines allegedly manufactured in a NATO country and attributed the find publicly through spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko.
- The FSB said each device contained about 7 kilograms of plastic explosive but did not disclose how many devices were removed or offer independent forensic evidence of origin.
- Officials and the harbor master Igor Malofeev said the crew remained on board and the vessel was ready to resume cargo operations after coordinated work by the FSB, the Defense Ministry and Rosgvardiya.
- Magnetic hull mines pose acute dangers to tankers carrying flammable gas and the unexplained attribution to a NATO state could heighten tensions, though outside verification of the devices' provenance has not been reported.