FSB shuts down extremist group in Crimea

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has shut down the activity of an extremist group in Crimea that had been created by an aide to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada member of parliament, the FSB Center for Public Relations said.

"The Federal Security Service and the Russian Interior Ministry have revealed the activity of an extremist group created by Erol Veliyev, aide to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada member of parliament [Mustafa] Dzhemilev, as ordered by [Refat] Chubarov, who is the leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, which is outlawed in Russia, and is on the wanted list, with support from the Ukrainian Security Service," the FSB Center for Public Relations reported.

Apart from Veliyev, former boxers Steshenko and Tretyakov are also members of the group that was formed in Kharkov, FSB reported. "The extremists planned to commit crimes based on political hatred with a goal to threaten the pro-Russian Crimean Tatars and stoke national tensions on the territory of the Republic of Crimea," TASS cited the Center as saying. 

In January 2018, members of the extremist group set Crimean mufti Emirali Ablayev’s house on fire with Molotov cocktails.

Investigators from the Federal Security Service Directorate for Crimea and Sevastopol launched criminal cases against Steshenko and Tretyakov.

"Extremist group members Veliyev and Tretyakov were sentenced in absentia under the corresponding Criminal Code articles. Both were put on the federal wanted list," the Center for Public Relations added.