This archive report was first published on 11 July 2019.
Prosecutors in Brussels have revealed that home-made explosives found in the city on the day of the Tour de France launch belonged to a former Russian soldier who died in 2011.
The explosives were discovered on Saturday in a building near where cyclists were racing, in the Anderlecht neighborhood.
According to the Brussels prosecutor's office, the bag containing the explosives, knives, and brass knuckles belonged to a man identified as G.A., a former Russian soldier born in 1965 who died in 2011.
The building's owner told investigators that the Russian was known to possess knives in the 2000s and was described as 'mentally unstable and inclined to paranoia.'
Fingerprints of the man were also found on the cellophane tape covering one of the knives, the prosecutors said.
The prosecutor's office has stated that it intends to close the case given that the man died in 2011, and there is no link to the 'festive events' at the weekend or to the country's terrorism cases.
Belgium has been hit by several Islamist extremist attacks, including the 2016 Brussels airport and metro station bombings that killed 32 people and injured hundreds.
Security was high for the Tour de France, a three-week cycling competition around France, which was launched from the cobbled streets of Brussels on Saturday.
