Russian authorities say they have arrested three Ukrainian spies, one of whom was planning a terrorist attack. The detention of the Ukrainian spy comes amid heightened tensions in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Berita politik dan ekonomi Rusia
As reported by AFP on Thursday (12/2/2021), Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the FSB, did not elaborate further when and where the three Ukrainian spies were detained. It only stated that the two alleged spies, who are father and son, were agents of the Ukrainian security service, the SBU. Ekonomi Rusia
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“(Both) traveled to Russia to gather information and take photos and videos of strategically important companies and objects of transportation infrastructure,” the FSB statement said.
According to the FSB, the Ukrainian father and son couple admitted that they were recruited by the SBU who offered them a fee of US$ 10,000.
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Another spy, who is also a Ukrainian, is said to be planning to carry out an attack. The FSB said the third spy was “recruited and acted on instructions” by a top Ukrainian intelligence official. Politik Rusia
“The attack was planned to be carried out by detonating two improvised explosive devices with a total weight of 1.5 kilograms equivalent to TNT,” the FSB said in a statement.
It did not specify where or when the planned attack would be carried out.
The detention of the Ukrainian spy was announced as tensions shroud the long-standing conflict in eastern Ukraine with pro-Russian separatists. The conflict in Ukraine’s two eastern regions bordering Russia has escalated in recent weeks, with Western allies claiming Russia is planning to invade Ukraine this winter.
Russia denies the accusations and accuses Ukraine of deploying half its troops near the conflict zone.
Pro-Russian separatists have seized the two territories in eastern Ukraine since 2014, shortly after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Politik Indonesia
Both Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia is deploying troops and military equipment to the border to support the separatists. Russia has denied the accusations.