The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) reported on Wednesday the arrest of six members of an alleged terrorist cell in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
"Thanks to coordinated actions of the FSB agents in Dzhankoi and Yalta, the conspiracy cell of a terrorist organization made up of six people was neutralized," says the official note, quoted by the Interfax agency.
Official Sergei Aksyonov has claimed on Telegram that the suspects are members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (or Liberation Party), founded by Taquiuddin al-Nabhani in the 1950s and banned in Russia. "The activities of the terrorists were coordinated, as expected, from the territory of the terrorist state of Ukraine," he added.
Ukraine, which is seeking to restore its control of the Black Sea peninsula, accuses Moscow of waging an imperial-style war of conquest to seize more Ukrainian land. She has not commented on the event.
According to the FSB, the detainees, guided by "Ukrainian emissaries", carried out actions aimed at spreading terrorist ideology in Russian territory and recruited Muslims for their ranks. They are not linked, at the moment, to the attack the day before in Dzhankoi, in northern Crimea, where a Russian army arsenal exploded.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for attacking bases in Crimea, which until recently was considered a safe rear base to support what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
Military analysts have pointed to the possible involvement of Ukrainian partisan groups or special forces operating deep behind enemy lines.
