MOSCOW - Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced the detention in the Republic of Crimea of members of Ukraine's ultra-nationalistic Right Sector suspected of plotting to stage acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks in several cities of the peninsula.
“The main goal of this criminal group was to stage acts of sabotage and terrorist attacks in the cities of Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol, as well as subsequently destroy a number of vital facilities such as railway bridges and power transmission lines,” FSB said in a press release, seen by Interfax on May 30.
FSB investigators are conducting a criminal inquiry opened against the suspects, known only by their last names Sentsov, Afanasyev, Chyrniy and Kolchenko, “who, acting as part of a terrorist community, carried out preparations for a terrorist act – explosions of improvised explosive devices near the Eternal Flame memorial and the V.I. Lenin monument in Simferopol early on May 9, as well as arson at the office of the Russian Community of Crimea public organization and the office of the United Russia party’s branch in Simferopol on April 14 and April 18, 2014.”
According to the press release, “the suspects have already admitted to Right Sector representatives’ involvement in organizing terrorist acts on the territory of Crimea with the aim of destabilizing the social and political situation on the peninsula and pressuring the authorities of the Russian Federation to make a decision in favor of excluding the Republic of Crimea from Russia.”
Explosives, firearms, ammunition, containers filled with an explosive mixture, hard hats similar to those used during riots in Kyiv’s Independence Square, respirators, gas masks, paint sprayers, and nationalist paraphernalia were confiscated from the men’s apartments.
The four have already been remanded into custody and will be charged soon, FSB said.
According to earlier reports, officers of Russian law enforcement agencies detained Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, suspected of masterminding a terrorist attack, in Crimea on May 11. It was reported on May 19 that Sentsov had been transferred to a pre-trial detention center in Moscow.
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on May 29 that Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov was being held at a remand center in Moscow.
