MOSCOW: Russia's FSB security service on Wednesday said it had arrested members of a Ukrainian sabotage network planning a series of attacks in Russian-occupied Crimea, including assassinations.
"The FSB has broken up the activities of an agent network of Ukrainian military intelligence planning to carry out major sabotage and terrorist attacks in Crimea," the security service said in a statement.
The FSB said they had detained seven people and seized explosive devices and detonators.
It said the bomb components had been smuggled into Russia from Bulgaria via Turkey and Georgia.
The FSB said that the group had been planning to assassinate political leaders including the Moscow-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.
"There is no doubt that the people who ordered these crimes are in Kyiv," Aksyonov said on his Telegram channel.
The FSB said the same group had carried out railway sabotage in February.