MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS/. Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge showed Ukraine has no intention of sparing anyone in order to achieve its aims and US interests.
He made the comment when introducing new Crimean Interior Minister Igor Illarionov to the staff.
"This issue concerns every employee of the internal affairs agencies, regardless of the department where he works. The terrorist attack on the Crimean Bridge showed that [our] Ukrainian neighbors are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of achieving their interests and the interests of their overseas string-pullers controlling the puppets in Kiev," he was quoted as saying by the ministry’s press center.
Kolokoltsev said that the Crimean peninsula has its own specifics, and at present it’s not so much about socio-economic factors as proximity to the zone of the special military operation.
"The current realities have produced increased requirements for the organization of the operations by our units. First of all, we are talking about preventing any attempts to destabilize the situation, protecting critical infrastructure facilities, ensuring the readiness of police officers for competent and efficient actions in any conditions of the operational situation. It’s equally important to intensify operational and preventive measures to remove weapons from illegal trafficking," the minister said.
In addition, Kolokoltsev focused on the organization of the activities of migration units, including the department that was set up in Crimea last July to handle the procedure for Russian citizenship under simplified rules. Kolokoltsev demanded that the new leadership be personally engaged in the work. He also called for more emphasis on solving crimes of the past years, cybercrimes, as well as documenting illegal acts that pose a particular public danger, the protection of budget funds allocated for the implementation of activities that are part of national projects and targeted federal programs, ensuring the safety of residents and guests of Crimea, and law and order on the streets and in other public places.
Interior Ministry’s Spokeswoman Irina Volk told TASS that former deputy head of Moscow City’s branch of the ministry, Police Major General Igor Illarionov, was appointed to the post of the head of the ministry’s Crimean branch by a presidential decree. He began his professional career as a traffic policeman and later worked in the department for combating organized crime in the Moscow Region. He served at the ministry’s head office for a few years, entrusted with overseeing the ministry’s internal security. He’s also headed the ministry’s office in the Kaliningrad Region.