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Security at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport discovered a mortar shell in the luggage of a US Embassy employee heading to London.
The discovery of “an object resembling a mortar shell with a fuse” was made on March 9 morning. The situation caused a major alert and a bomb squad was called in. Later, it emerged that the mortar shell had no explosive compound inside with only small traces of a blasting agent remained on its surface.
Despite the incident, the US diplomat was able to depart to London because of he was protected by his diplomatic immunity. He explained the situation by claiming he bought an empty mortar shell without an explosive compound for his “private collection.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry described the incident was a “provocation” and demanded explanations.
“It seems that the United States is trying to test Russia’s security capabilities not just from without, by regularly sending their warships and aircraft on provocative raids near our borders, but from within as well, even by using their embassy employees”, Sputnik quoted own sources among ministry officials.
By now, mainstream media outlets have been mostly silent over the incident. However, it’s easy to imagine their reaction if it would be a Russian diplomat with a mortar somewhere in New York or London.
