Russia accuses Ukraine of planning attacks on its soil | international

The Russian authorities accuse Ukraine of wanting to carry out an attack on its territory at a time There is great tension on the border between the two countries. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of three suspected Ukrainian agents and published a video in which the detainees allegedly confessed to their intention to plant bombs and photograph key targets inside Russia. But Ukrainian intelligence denies this. “These statements should be viewed exclusively from the perspective of a mixed war in which propaganda and the spread of imitation play a prominent role,” a spokesman for the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) confirmed to Unian media after it learned the news. .

Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of preparing a An imminent military operation on its bordersAnd the Russian intelligence indictment adds more gasoline to the fire. In its statement, the FSB stated that “material confirming the terrorist aspirations of the Ukrainian military intelligence has been received on the territory of our country.”

Information provided by Russian Security Service It is very detailed in some ways and opaque in others. It is not mentioned when or where they were taken, or where they were supposed to carry out their activities. The arrests are divided into two separate cases: a father and his son who were on their way to photograph strategic places, and another Ukrainian citizen who was allegedly preparing to detonate two bombs in the near future. When they tell their story to the camera, they don’t look away from the lens or get confused at what appears to be a confession read.

Zinovi Kupal, 47, and his son, Igor, 22, had the task of recording transport infrastructure, according to their confession. However, in the video released by the FSB, a whole arsenal was seen in the car in which they were held: a long gun, several pistols, protective equipment and dozens of chargers. According to the Russian Federal Security Service, they were recruited by an SBU officer from the Ternopil region, “Colonel Vasily Kovalik, born in 1973, who assigned them the task of collecting information on strategic targets to the tune of $10,000.”

The other one who was arrested was an alleged Ukrainian Military Intelligence agent, Aleksandr Tsilik (23 years old), whose employer was also mentioned. “An attack was planned with two explosive devices with a mass of 1.5 kilograms of TNT,” says Russian espionage. “He was arrested red-handed with a destructive weapon on his way to the crime scene,” adds the FSB.

Except for the extraordinary nature of the confessions in front of the camera, these arrests are not unique. Both sides have long claimed that they hold terrorists from the neighboring country on their territory. According to the Ukrainian SBU, about 50 Russian spies were identified between January and September of this year, who also experienced thousands of cyber attacks against state agencies. For its part, the FSB reports that last month, Ukrainian captain Sergei Shvydenko was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for leading an alleged sabotage group that tried to blow up a communications tower in Crimea in 2016.

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