A former Ukrainian deputy spoke about Patrushev's participation in attempts to disrupt NATO exercises in Crimea in 2008

Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Leonid Grach said that in 2008, FSB director Nikolai Patrushev provided assistance to Crimean activists who tried to disrupt joint exercises between Ukraine and NATO.

In an interview with Meduza, Grach called Patrushev “the only person in Moscow who did not carry on empty talk.”

“Nikolai Platonovich is the only one who really not only deeply saw the development of events that led to what they led to, but also really made his personal contribution so that we could rise here <...> If this opposition that I I am leading until today, Nikolai Platonovich did not support, the American fleet would be here, ”said Grach.

According to Hrach, Patrushev began supporting the Ukrainian opposition in 2005, after the Orange Revolution. “He understood the first one, and the rest played games,” Grach said. What exactly was the help from Patrushev, he refused to say.

Read the full interview with Leonid Grach here .

• Leonid Grach is the last Soviet leader of the Crimea. Subsequently, he was a deputy of the Supreme Council of Crimea and headed the Crimean Republican Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
• In 2008, Ukraine and NATO conducted joint Sea Breeze exercises. In particular, they took place in the area of ​​the Crimean lake Donuzlav. Activists from among the supporters of the Communist Party of Ukraine organized a tent camp there, tried to block the armored personnel carriers and clashed with the marines of the armed forces of Ukraine.
• “The paratroopers of the Ukrainian Navy opened fire in the air and threw explosives at people. One of the young communists received a burn on his leg as a result. People's Deputy of Ukraine Leonid Grach broke his finger," reported . Ukrainian communists
• The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that the protests did not prevent the exercise.