Le Parisien – Is the mystery surrounding the sinking of the Ursa Major about to be solved? A little over a year ago, this Russian cargo ship had sunk into international waters, somewhere between Spain and Algeria. On December 23, 2024, the ship was hit by three explosions in the engine room, a “terrorist attack”, according to its owner, the company Oboronloguistika under the Russian Ministry of Defense. Two sailors were then reported missing.

This cargo ship, under US sanctions since 2022, had left St. Petersburg two weeks earlier and was to reach the port of Vladivostok, located in the Russian Far East. At the time, Oboronloguistika had explained that the ship carried mostly empty containers, Liebherr cranes, as well as hatch covers for icebreakers. But according to the investigation by the Spanish authorities, revealed by the media La Verdad, the latter are in fact the envelopes of two VM-4SG nuclear reactors of nearly 65 tons each.

(In French) (Thanks to Alain)