Russia claims arrest of Islamist ‘terrorist cell’ in Crimea

The top official in Russian-occupied Crimea said on Wednesday that the FSB security service broke up a six-member terrorist cell of a banned Islamist group, a day after blasts rocked one of Russia’s military bases there.

“All of them are detained. The activities of the terrorists were co-ordinated, as one would expect, from the territory of the terrorist state of Ukraine,” official Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which wants the Black Sea peninsula back. Russia seized it in 2014. Ukraine accuses Moscow of waging an unprovoked imperial-style war of conquest to seize more of its land.

Aksyonov said the suspects were members of Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia.

An FSB statement did not say if the prisoners were linked with Tuesday’s blasts at a base in Dzhankoi in northern Crimea and last week at a Russian military base in western Crimea, where satellite pictures showed eight wrecked Russian warplanes.

But it mentioned Dzhankoi and the city of Yalta as the two locations where the alleged cell was  “neutralised”. On Tuesday, the Russians blamed saboteurs for the Dzhankoi blasts.

The FSB said the cell recruited local Muslims and accused it of carrying out terrorist activity.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for attacking the bases in Crimea, which until recently was seen as a secure rear base to support Russia’s  “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Military analysts point to the possibility of Ukrainian partisans or special forces operating far behind enemy lines.

Reuters