Three detained Ukrainians arrested in occupied Crimea

The Leninsky District Court of Sevastopol city in the occupied Crimea arrested Ukrainians, whom Russian de facto authorities accused of plotting acts of sabotage.

RIA Novosti Russian news agency reported this with reference to the court.

“All three defendants in the case were arrested by the court for a period of two months,” the court announced, without specifying the names of detainees and other details of the case.

The court hearing was closed.

In Russia, the names of so-called “Ukrainian saboteurs” detained in Crimea were disclosed: Oleksiy Bessarabov, Dmytro Shtyblikov, Vladymyr Dudko.

Oleksiy Shtyblikov, who introduced himself as the brother of one of the detainees, said in a commentary to Dozhd Russian TV channel that Dmytro Shtyblikov worked as an analyst at the Nomos center facilitating the study of geopolitical issues and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in the Black Sea Region in Sevastopol up to 2014.

According to open sources, it is a Ukrainian non-governmental analytical organization, headquartered in Sevastopol.

“Prior to joining [the annexation of Crimea by Russia], he had been working is an analyst for five or six years, engaged in war journalism and, apparently, so hit the list as a suspect,” the interlocutor said.

“He has been a civil person. He once was indeed a serviceperson, but that was long ago,” he added.

According to Shtyblikov, his brother was detained in the afternoon on November 9.

According to him, the brother called him from the prosecutor’s office and said that he and other detainees were charged under Part 2 of Article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (sabotage).

As reported, the Russia’s Federal Security Service stated about the alleged detention on November 9 in Sevastopol of so-called “terrorist group of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukraine’s Defence Ministry” who allegedly planned to “commit acts of sabotage at the military infrastructure facilities of Crimea.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the statement by the FSB was lie. “The FSB did not detain any saboteurs in Crimea and Sevastopol, because there are no saboteurs there,” the Defense Ministry spokesman on the ATO Andriy Lysenko said.

This is the second attempt of Russia to accuse Ukraine of plotting the acts of sabotage.

As reported, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in August that Yevhen Panov and Andriy Zakhtey were accused of alleged plotting terrorist acts in the occupied Crimea.