The FSB reported that it had detained a Russian who was preparing an attempt on the head of annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov.
According to the special service, the 35-year-old Russian citizen had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence. The man had allegedly received mine blasting training in Ukraine and was planning to blow up Aksenov’s car. To this end, the “agent of a foreign intelligence service” arrived in Crimea in June and began preparations for a terrorist attack. “However, the bomber did not have time to carry out his criminal intention to the end, as he was detained during the removal of the explosive device from the cache”, the agency said.
The FSB claims that they detained him when he was taking the bomb from the cache. A criminal case was filed against the Russian citizen under articles of attempted terrorist attacks and the illegal acquisition of explosives. The detainee pleaded guilty.
RIA Novosti published a video of the detention. On it, two men in camouflage uniforms and masks run out of the car and lay a man in a tracksuit on the ground, passing by. The tape also shows a fragment of an interrogation of the detainee, in which he confesses. The man said that he had received an assignment to go to Simferopol and was waiting to be told the address of the car in which he was to plant explosives, and then place it on the route of Aksenov’s motorcade.
The head of the annexed Crimea thanked the FSB for preventing the attempt. He noted that the terrorist threat from Kyiv can be completely eliminated only by fulfilling the goals of the war in Ukraine.
In May, the FSB had already reported on the prevention of an attempted assassination attempt on Aksenov, as well as on the “Chairman of the Crimean parliament”, Vladimir Konstantinov, and the “Mayor of Yalta”, Yanina Pavlenko. According to the intelligence service, it was prepared by Ukrainian intelligence.
In 2023, the intelligence service regularly reports on the prevention of terrorist attacks in Russia and in the captured Ukrainian territories, as well as on the detention of “SB agents” or “Ukrainian spies”. It is unknown whether these people are actually preparing “sabotage” or “terrorist attacks.
