A group of Ukrainian saboteurs, detained by Russia's Federal Security Service in Crimea's Sevastopol on November 9, are staff members of the Main Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry intelligence
Russia’s FSB said earlier in the day it had detained suspected members of Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s sabotage group in Sevastopol on Wednesday who allegedly plotted acts of sabotage at Crimea’s military facilities.
The service claimed that powerful explosive devices, weapons and rounds of ammunition, means of special communications and also maps of facilities had been seized from the detained persons.
The Public Relations Center (DSP) of the FSB said that the detainees have already pleaded guilty and began to testify.
Crimea's Senator Sergey Tsekov blamed the Ukrainian authorities for sabotage attempts at the peninsula.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has denied that any of its employees had been detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Crimea.
"The main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry refutes the statement of Russia’s FSB on the alleged detention of the staff members in Sevastopol," the ministry said on its official website.
On August 10, Russia’s FSB announced detention of a group of suspected saboteurs and prevention of allegedly planned terrorist attacks on the Crimean Peninsula. The two suspects in that case, Ukrainian citizens Yevgeny Panov and Andrei Zakhtei have been placed in pre-trial detention until Dec. 10.
