The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained two people who were members of a subversive group led by Colonel of the General Staff of the Main Intelligence Department of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Strelkov, known under the call sign "Strelok."
“As part of an antiterrorist operation, on April 23 SBU detained two
dangerous criminals who were members of Strelkov’s subversive group,”
the head of the SBU press center, Maryna Ostapenko, said at a briefing
in Kyiv on Thursday.
She said that the detained “citizen P.” was involved in coordinating
the Crimean branch of the Russian Unity Party and members of the
intelligence and sabotage group of the Main Intelligence Department of
the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, headed by Strelkov, and
organized seizures of administrative buildings in Artemivsk and
Sloviansk in Donetsk region.
Ostapenko added that this person was also responsible for the supply
of firearms to individuals who were involved in extremist activities.
She noted that from October 7 to October 20 this man was in Crimea,
where he received respective instructions with the participation of
Russian secret services and diplomats of the Russian Consulate General
in Simferopol on further work to destabilize the situation in the
southeastern regions of Ukraine.
“The second detainee is Russian citizen S. who entered Ukraine using a Ukrainian passport as a cover document,” she said.
Ostapenko said that “the analysis of the data indicates that the
detainee S. could be a technical specialist who is responsible for
encrypted communication with the center and uses the call sign
‘Lastochka,’ possesses important information on the activity of
saboteurs in Ukraine.
She said that after the arrest of the said persons, people from their
entourage tried to seize the vehicle in which the detainees were
transported.
