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Crimea and Sevastopol

Suspect nabbed for plotting assassination of Crimea head admits guilt

The man also admitted that he received special training in Ukraine

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. A man who was apprehended while plotting to blow up Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov admitted his involvement in a video published on Monday by the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Public Relations Center.

"I was recruited by my handler Igor from Ukrainian intelligence. After that, I took on the codename ‘Karateka.’ I received an assignment to go to Simferopol. I was waiting to be told the address where a vehicle was located to install a mine in order to later park this vehicle on Sevastopolsky Street to blow up Aksyonov’s motorcade," he said.

The man also admitted that he received special training in Ukraine. Earlier, the FSB’s Public Relations Center reported that an assassination attempt against the Head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, plotted by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, had been thwarted. A Russian national born in 1988 who had been recruited by officers from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) was detained. The bomber failed to follow through with his criminal plans as he was detained while removing an explosive device from a cache.

This is not the first attempt on Aksyonov’s life by Ukrainian intelligence that has been prevented by Russia’s FSB. In early May, the FSB reported interdicting the activities of a network of agents of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) that was plotting a series of high-profile sabotage and terrorist attacks in Crimea. The perpetrators had been targeting not only Aksyonov, but also Crimean State Council Chairman Vladimir Konstantinov and Yalta Mayor Yanina Pavlenko. At that time, seven individuals were arrested.

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