ROME, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Italy’s government has seen nothing to suggest that Russia was behind last week’s explosion at a munitions plant near Rome, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto was quoted as saying on Monday.
The blast struck a KNDS Ammo Italy factory in Colleferro, southeast of Rome, on Thursday after firefighters had already been called to tackle a fire at the site. No injuries were reported.
While the government has not commented on reports that the plant produces ammunition for Ukraine, Crosetto sought to dampen speculation that Russian sabotage was behind the explosion.
“There is no indication to anyone that this could be anything other than an internal problem,” Crosetto told Italian news agency Adnkronos.
La Repubblica newspaper reported on Monday that prosecutors were examining possible links to similar incidents at ammunition facilities in Bulgaria. Contacted by Reuters, investigators declined to comment.
Carlo Calenda, leader of the opposition Azione party, called on the government to brief parliament on the case, saying authorities should clarify what happened as soon as possible.
“We cannot remain in uncertainty over a possible Russian hybrid attack,” Calenda said in a social-media post.
KNDS, the Franco-German defence group that owns the plant through its KNDS Ammo Italy unit, has said the circumstances of the incident remain under investigation.
According to the company’s website, the Colleferro facility produces medium- and large-calibre ammunition for land and naval defence systems, as well as solid propellants for aerospace launch vehicles.
The Russian embassy in Italy has not commented on the incident.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer and Anna Uras. Editing by Mark Potter)
