Russia claims thwarted Ukrainian plot to kill top Moscow-backed official in Crimea
- Moscow’s FSB security service says it arrested a Ukrainian agent – a recruited Russian national – in an assassination attempt on Sergei Aksyonov
- Security has been stepped up in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, according to Russian media reports
Russia’s FSB security service said on Monday it had thwarted a Ukrainian assassination attempt on Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea, arresting a Ukrainian agent before he was able to blow up Aksyonov’s car.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian allegation.
It came amid Russian media reports that security has been stepped up in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and that additional security checks are being made on people wanting to cross a bridge from Russia’s southern Krasnodar region into Crimea.
The FSB said in a statement that it had arrested a Russian national recruited as an assassin by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency who had undergone explosives, reconnaissance and sabotage training in Ukraine.
His plan, it said, had been to blow up Aksyonov’s car, but he had been detained as he tried to retrieve an explosive device from a hiding place.