Attempts to Destabilize Crimea Will Be Met With Tough Response

SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik) – Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier on Wednesday it had dismantled a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, detaining both Russian and Ukrainian nationals involved in preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula.

"Any attempt to destabilize the socio-political situation in the Republic of Crimea, wherever they may come from, will continue to be suppressed with maximum toughness," Aksyonov wrote on his Facebook page.

Aksyonov, expressing gratitude to the FSB, border guards and the Russian Defense Ministry’s personnel and extending condolences to an FSB employee and a serviceman killed in the course of arrests and shootouts, assured the peninsula’s residents and visitors that their safety was guaranteed in full.

"What happened on August 6, 7 and 8 once again confirms the terrorist nature of the authorities in Kiev. The terrorists, their ideological instigators and accomplices will not escape retribution," he wrote.

The FSB said the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate masterminded the terrorist plots and attempts to break through into Crimea and sabotage critical infrastructure. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces denied the accusations and labeled them a provocation.