Russia’s security service said Thursday it had detained several people in Crimea, accusing them of being saboteurs sent by Kiev to the Moscow-annexed peninsula to attack infrastructure targets.
Russia’s FSB security service on Wednesday “detained members of a sabotage-terrorist group from the main intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defense ministry,” it said in a statement.
The group “planned to carry out acts of sabotage on objects of military and public infrastructure,” and had in their possession “powerful explosive devices, weapons, ammunition” and communication equipment, the FSB said.
Moscow seized and annexed the Black Sea peninsula following a national referendum in 2014. The international community then imposed sanctions against Moscow.
Earlier this year, the FSB announced that it had thwarted terrorist attacks in Crimea, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered additional security measures.
Ukraine has dismissed the accusations of plotting attacks as “fantasies” concocted by Moscow to” boost its military buildup and create a pretext for threatening Kiev.”
Kiev is still fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, parts of which have declared independence. Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in April 2014.
Source: AFP
