MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) - Russian authorities have opened a criminal case over terrorism after the Sudzha gas metering station was destroyed by the Ukrainian military, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Friday.
"The Main military Investigative Directorate of Russia's Investigative Committee opened a criminal case over signs of a terrorist attack (Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code) following a second Ukrainian military attack on the Sudzha gas metering station," a statement on the Committee's Telegram channel said.
On March 28 "Ukraine's armed forces that illegally invaded Russian territory carried out their second attack on the Sudzha gas metering station," it said.
"As a result, the facility was fully destroyed," the statement said.
The preliminary investigation will identify all those involved in the crime and hold them to account, it said.
The station had been deliberately attacked by Ukraine's armed forces retreating from the Kursk region, Russia's Defense Ministry said on March 21.
Military investigators launched a terrorism inquiry in relation to the attack, the Committee's spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said then.
The second attack, carried out by Ukraine with HIMARS missiles at around 10:20 a.m. on March 28, resulted in a severe blaze that effectively destroyed the facility, Russia's Defense Ministry said earlier on Friday.