Russia ‘ready to help’ Denmark with blast probe: ambassador

Russia is prepared to assist Denmark in its investigation of man of Chechen origin believed to have set off a bomb in a Copenhagen hotel last week, Moscow’s ambassador in the Danish capital said Wednesday.

“We are cooperating within the anti-terrorist alliance and we are ready to help the Danish authorities” if they want our assistance with the probe, Teymuraz Ramishvili told AFP.

Danish police last Friday arrested a man suspected of having set off an explosion in a bathroom at the budget Joergensen hotel in the centre of Copenhagen.

The suspect refused to reveal his identity, which had remained a mystery since the blast. But on Wednesday Danish police said it was “very likely” the suspect was Lors Dukayev, born in 1986 in Chechnya and now living in Belgium.

The motive for the blast, which may have been meant to go off at another location, remains unclear.

Ramishvili said Danish authorities so far had not requested Russian assistance, and appeared to be “still investigating inside the EU and national systems.”

“But we are ready of course,” he said, adding that Russia was willing to assist “all the countries in the world” with anti-terrorist investigations.

The diplomat stressed “it is very difficult to identify” the suspected bomber. Our information is very limited because he left Russia when he was a child.”