Putin accused Ukraine of terror

Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting on information about the prevention of terrorist attacks in the Crimea, said that Ukraine was "moving to terror." The head of state stated this at a press conference following a meeting with the President of Armenia, Interfax reports.

“Apparently, those people who seized power in Kyiv and continue to hold it, instead of finding compromises, instead of looking for a way of peaceful settlement, moved to the practice of terror,” Putin said.

Putin promised to take “serious additional measures” to ensure the safety of citizens and infrastructure facilities.

The President recalled that as a result of preventing terrorist attacks and attempts to break through the special forces of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, two Russians were killed.

“We certainly will not pass such things,” Putin emphasized.

According to the Russian leader, the goal of attempts at attacks in the Crimea, which, according to the FSB, were prepared by Ukrainian intelligence, was to distract the attention of the inhabitants of Ukraine from the country's internal problems.

“There is no other meaning in the conduct of such actions, in addition to diverting the attention of their own people from the plight of the Ukrainian economy, from the plight of a significant number of citizens of the country, there is no other point,” Putin emphasized.

In addition, Putin said that after the prevention of terrorist attacks in Crimea, holding a meeting in the Norman format “in the fields” G20 is pointless.

The Russian president called on the countries supporting Kyiv to put pressure on him in order to move on to the real process of peaceful settlement. “The most important thing is that those who support today's Kyiv authorities should still decide what they want: they want their customers to continue to engage in provocations of this kind or they still want a real peaceful settlement,” Putin said.

On August 10, the FSB of Russia announced the prevention of terrorist attacks in the Crimea, which, according to the special services, was prepared by Ukrainian intelligence. The alleged terrorists were detained on the night of August 7. During their detention, an FSB officer died.

On the night of August 8, the special forces of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine made two attempts to “break through the sabotage and terrorist groups”, both attempts were prevented by the FSB. As a result, one Russian soldier died. According to Komersant with reference to a source in law enforcement, the deceased is the commander of the GRU special forces company.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that Ukrainian intelligence did not participate in “sabotage activities” in the Crimea, and the FSB statements about the prevention of terrorist attacks on the peninsula are “an attempt to justify the relocation and aggressive actions” of the Russian military.