Kyiv, May 23, 2014. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council as well as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) disclosed details which confirm the involvement of the Russian Federation in the upheaval in Eastern Ukraine. In particular, Ukraine’s authorities affirmed that the terrorists who are operating in eastern Ukraine had been trained in the Russian city Rostov-on-Don; pseudo-Euromaidan activists were leaking information to their Kremlin collaborators and an already-detained Russian professional sniper was being deployed for a mission in the East of Ukraine.
Armed terrorists who are currently operating in eastern Ukraine are part of drills conducted at a military base near Rostov-on-Don in the Russian Federation, reported Andriy Parubiy, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine at a press briefing on May 22, 2014. “There are nearly 1,000 people at the military base; the training is being conducted by Russian officers,” concluded Parubiy as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
In addition, the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU, detained two saboteurs who were in close cooperation with Russian coordinators during the Euromaidan rallies. Interestingly, both of the detained men were police officers in the past. “By positioning themselves as active participants of Euromaidan, O and S [letters indicating their names, which remain undisclosed for the time of investigation – Ed.] were preparing a series of actions of a subversive nature against our state and gathered and passed information on current events to their Russian coordinators,” reads the SBU statement. During an authorized search of their temporary residence as well as of non-residential premises used by the perpetrators, SBU found weapons, ammunition and explosives including three AKSU assault rifles, two Makarov handguns, sniper air rifle, a traumatic handgun, converted to fire lethal cartridges, hand grenades, a large number of military ammunition and improvised explosive devices.
Suffice it to say that in view of the upcoming elections in Ukraine which are to take place on May 25, 2014, the activity of the terrorists has escalated as reported today the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaichenko during his press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center in Kyiv. As an example of such activities the official reported that SBU has detained a citizen of Russia, who was involved in the recruitment in Cherkasy, Vinnytsya and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine. “After conducting investigation, we now clearly understand the purpose of his activity: the disruption of elections, intimidation of citizens, poisoning civilians, blowing up bridges and residential buildings,” stated Nalyvaichenko.
Interestingly, on May 22 border guards in Kharkiv reported detaining a Russian citizen and veteran of two wars in Chechnya who was travelling to the east of Ukraine. During the interrogation, the man failed to clearly state the purpose of his trip to the currently unsafe area. Reportedly, the detained man went to eastern Ukraine in order to destabilize the situation and to participate in illegal armed formations, according to lb.ua. After the completion of an additional background check, the detained person was reported to have been a professional sniper in the past and had participated in a pre-trip training in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
