Crimean court orders arrest of seven Ukrainian military intelligence operatives — FSB
According to the FSB’s Public Relations Center, the Ukrainian intelligence services had set up a clandestine international channel for forwarding explosive devices, which were sent from Bulgaria to Russia via Turkey and Georgia
SIMFEROPOL, May 3. /TASS/. A Crimean court has placed seven operatives of a clandestine Ukrainian military intelligence network under arrest. The seven had earlier been detained for plotting terrorist attacks on and assassinations of leading Crimean political figures, the Crimea and Sevastopol branch of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS on Wednesday.
The FSB’s Public Relations Center reported earlier that FSB agents had interdicted the activity of a network of operatives working for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (MID), which was plotting to carry out a series of high-profile sabotage and terrorist attacks in the Republic of Crimea. According to the FSB, the planned attacks were specifically targeted against Sergey Aksyonov, head of Crimea; Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of the Crimean State Council; and Yanina Pavlenko, mayor of Yalta. Additionally, the attacks were intended to target key transport infrastructure facilities on the Crimean Peninsula.
"All seven [agents] have been placed under custody for two months by the Kiev District Court in Simpefopol," the source said.
According to the FSB’s Public Relations Center, the Ukrainian intelligence services had set up a clandestine international channel for forwarding explosive devices, which were sent from Bulgaria to Russia via Turkey and Georgia. Ukrainian national Marina Matushyak was engaged in Bulgaria in organizing the shipment of electric stoves with explosive device components to Russia. After the stoves were delivered to Russia by car, they were then dispatched further by transport companies CDEK and Vodovoz to the sites where terrorist attacks were being prepared by members of the network. Thus, the transport of the devices was in fact carried out by Russian citizens, who were inadvertently operating on behalf of the Ukrainian secret services. At the same time, it was established that the very same type of explosives was used in a sabotage attack on a section of railway in Crimea’s Bakhchisaray District on February 23, 2023.