SEVASTOPOL, April 14. /TASS/. Ukraine’s intelligence services are plotting to carry out acts of sabotage and terrorism in Crimea, including at vital infrastructure facilities, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said on Wednesday.

"Ukraine’s intelligence agencies and extremist groups constantly carry out provocations on the state border and attempt to conduct acts of sabotage and terrorism in Crimea, notably at critical infrastructure facilities," Patrushev stressed.

The security chief warned that Crimea was vulnerable to national security threats from the activity of the United States as well as a number of EU countries and Ukraine. "Conditions for emerging threats to national security on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula still persist, which are linked to a possible deterioration in the inter-ethnic, inter-religious situation and the likelihood of terror attacks," Patrushev emphasized.

According to Patrushev, among the key reasons for these threats would be "the destructive activity of the US, and the NATO bloc controlled by it, a number of EU states, Ukraine, aimed at discrediting Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, harming its authority and international image, and disseminating extremist and nationalist ideology."

West training saboteurs and terrorists

Centers for training saboteurs have been established in Ukraine with the West’s support, Patrushev noted. "At its Western sponsors’ behest, centers for training sabotage and reconnaissance groups have been set up in Ukraine. It is not ruled out that the graduates of these centers will focus on plotting terror attacks, and not only in Russia but also in other states," he stated.

The risk of carrying out terror attacks in Crimea is among other things explained by the return of militants from abroad, who had fought on the side of international terrorists, Patrushev warned. "The situation is also complicated due to individuals returning to Crimea, who had participated in armed conflicts on the side of international terrorist organizations abroad," he noted.

Last year, six terror attacks and ten terror-related crimes were thwarted and 23 extremism-associated crimes were foiled in Crimea, Patrushev pointed out.

On April 9, 2021, another terror attack plotted by supporters of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham international terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) was prevented in Simferopol, Patrushev revealed.