Russia has provided Lebanon with satellite images from Aug. 4, 2020, the day of the Beirut Port explosion. The images prepared by the country’s space agency Roscosmos are meant to help the Lebanese government with its investigation into what triggered the explosion that left more than 200 people dead and some 6,000 people injured. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Moscow on Monday with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, said that the transferred images of the port both before and after the blast should help with the investigation.
The massive explosion that devastated the capital and left some 300,000 people homeless was caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse at the port in unsafe conditions. The judge in the case has requested satellite images from other countries, including France and the United States.
Lavrov also said that the foreign ministers discussed the “possible participation” of Russian companies in Beirut’s reconstruction in the wake of the destructive blast.
The investigation has stalled since investigation Judge Tarek Bitar was accused of bias by three former cabinet ministers, who have called for his removal.