Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has reportedly prevented a terrorist attack organized by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) against one of Crimea’s leaders, the FSB reported.
"In Crimea, the Russian FSB detained a group of people consisting of Russian citizens Bondar V.A., Shevchenko O.V. and Ananiyeva V.V. The group was assigned to blow up a car belonging to one of the Crimean authorities, by the order of the SBU in Simferopol. The detainees have confessed to it," the statement reads.
According to FSB information, the suspects had a cumulative radio-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) made from a modified German-made DM22 anti-tank mine with a 1.9 kilogram hexogen-based charge.
They were also in possession of:
a radio transmitter, a tripod for placing a mine launching device, and a mine fountain stabilizer;
an IED with a foreign-made explosive based on hexogen C-4 weighing 3.05 kg, an EDP-r detonator and a radio relay;
a remote fuse (DTMF coded) with a phone connection.
Bondar, one of the detainees, said that a mine had been kept in a cache in a garage, found on the SBU’s assignment.
"The mine remains in this garage with a remote control. It was intended for an attack on a motorcade [carrying one of Crimean leaders]," he said.
The authorities have launched a criminal case for an attempted terrorist act, as well as for the illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transport, shipment or carrying of explosives or explosive devices. The detainees are under a two-month arrest, Crimea’s FSB office told Sputnik.
In December, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov said that amid Ukraine’s military failures, Kiev began to send spies and saboteurs over to Russia, as well as to establish contacts "with those on our soil, in order to harm us in the rear."
According to Bortnikov, security services regularly act in advance to prevent such crimes.