On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said that it had eliminated a spy ring organized by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Crimea, which was preparing acts of sabotage on “critical and life-supporting elements of the peninsula’s infrastructure.” A FSB officer died during a shootout that ensued during the raid.
“A criminal case has been opened to look into all the facts of crimes. Investigative and operational measures are being taken and a preliminary investigation is being carried out. Criminal proceedings have been initiated over the preparations to commit an act of sabotage and participation in creating and organizing an illegal armed group… and also in relation to the deaths,” said Poklonskaya.
According to Poklonskaya, the investigation is being conducted by the investigation unit of the FSB’s Crimean branch and the Crimean division of the Russian Investigative Committee.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the foiled sabotage plot in Crimea was an attempt to distract the Ukrainian people’s and divert attention away from the performance of the leadership in Kiev.