Russia claims foiled Crimea 'terrorist attacks' by Kiev

Russia's security service today said it had thwarted "terrorist attacks" in Crimea by Ukrainian military intelligence and beaten back an armed assault, but Kiev denied the claims.
The FSB said in a statement that one of its officers was killed in armed clashes while arresting "terrorists" on the night of August 6-7 while a Russian soldier died in a firefight with "sabotage-terrorist" groups sent by the Ukrainian defence ministry on August 8.
The allegations will fuel further tensions in the feud between Russia and Ukraine, sparked when Moscow annexed Crimea from Kiev in March 2014 after Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.

Ukraine's national security council chief Oleksandr Turchynov blasted the claims as "hysterical and false" and said Moscow was trying to stoke fear in Crimea.
Ukraine's defence ministry dismissed the allegations as "nothing more than an attempt to justify the redeployment and aggressive actions" of Russian forces in the region.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring the frontier between mainland Ukraine and Crimea did not report any incidents.

But it said road traffic was halted this earlier this week and border guards appeared to be on "heightened alert".
In its statement, the FSB -- which controls Russia's border guards -- said it had "foiled terrorist attacks on the territory of Crimea prepared by the intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian defence ministry".

"The aim of the sabotage and terrorist attacks was to destabilise the social and political situation" ahead of elections in Russia and Crimea next month, it said.
The security agency said that in the August 6-7 raids, several people were detained, including a Ukrainian military intelligence officer, and a cache of explosives was discovered.
"On the night of August 8 2016 special operations forces from the Ukrainian defence ministry carried out two more attempts to make a breakthrough by sabotage-terrorist groups," it said.
The assault included "massive firing from the side of the neighbouring state and armoured vehicles" but was beaten back by the Russian authorities, the statement said.

The FSB said it had stepped up security measures around the peninsula following the alleged incidents.