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Bulgaria arrests Russian shipowner in relation to deadly 2020 Beirut blast
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 16, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 16, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Bulgaria arrests Russian shipowner Igor Grechushkin, linked to the 2020 Beirut blast, for possible extradition to Lebanon amid ongoing investigations.
SOFIA (Reuters) -Police in Bulgaria have arrested the Russian owner of a ship that brought the explosive material that detonated at Beirut port in August 2020, killing more than 200 people, Bulgarian media reported on Tuesday.
Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman based in Cyprus, was detained for possible extradition to Lebanon, where he is wanted for his role in the blast, Bulgarian National Radio and other outlets reported.
Authorities in Bulgaria did not comment on the case, but Bulgaria's prosecutor's office said in a statement on Tuesday that it had detained a Russian and Cypriot dual citizen with the initials I.G. "for the purpose of extradition" to Lebanon.
The Sofia City Court ruled that the man could be held for up to 40 days, it said.
"During the period of temporary detention, the competent authorities of Lebanon shall provide the Prosecutor's Office with the extradition request and accompanying documents," the statement said.
Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nasser did not immediately respond to requests for comment
Grechushkin was placed on Interpol's wanted list at the request of the Lebanese judicial authorities in 2020.
Lebanon's probe into the causes of the blast and possible negligence by top Lebanese officials has faced stops and starts over the last five years, with families of the explosion's victims blaming political interference.
The first investigative judge was removed from the Lebanese inquiry in response to complaints from top officials whom he had charged. His successor, Tarek Bitar, also charged top politicians but they refused to be interrogated, denied wrongdoing and froze his probe.
Bitar resumed his investigation earlier this year and has questioned several officials in recent months - but he has yet to issue a long-awaited preliminary indictment.
(Reporting by Georgi Slavov in Sofia; Additional reporting by Stoyan Nenov in Sofia and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Writing by Edward McAllisterEditing by Gareth Jones)
Extradition is the formal process where one country surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another country, typically under the terms of a treaty.
An international financial institution is an organization that provides financial and technical assistance to countries for development projects, often aimed at reducing poverty and promoting economic growth.
A financial crisis is a situation in which the value of financial institutions or assets drops rapidly, leading to a loss of confidence and potential economic downturn.
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