Trial in case of sabotage attempt in Crimea to take place in territory of peninsula - source
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - The sabotage group members suspected of an attempt to organize a series of terror attacks in Crimea will be tried in the territory of the peninsula, a source in the Russian law enforcement structures told Interfax on Thursday.
"The arrested individuals are being held in a Crimean pre-trial detention facility. All investigative measures involving them, as well the judicial trial, will be conducted in Crimea in strict accordance with Russian legislation under the principle of territoriality of committed crime," the source said.
Meanwhile, the issue of exchange of the arrested individuals has not yet been considered, the source said.
"The Ukrainian side has not yet proposed any initiatives on the exchange of the suspects in accordance with the established procedure. This issue can hardly be settled through the pre-trial process," the source said.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on August 10 that terrorist attacks plotted by Ukrainian intelligence had been averted in Crimea. According to earlier reports, Russian special services, with support from other defense and security agencies, prevented several attempts by groups of saboteurs and terrorists to break into Crimea from Ukrainian territory in the early hours of August 7 and 8, during which a Russian serviceman and an FSB officer were killed.
The FSB said one of the masterminds of the crime, Yevhen Panov, a resident of the Zaporizhia region of Ukraine and an official with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, had been detained. He has given confessionary evidence, which was aired on federal television last Thursday.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the Main Intelligence Directorate and the National Security and Defense Council have denied the reports on Ukrainian saboteurs. The Defense Ministry also said the accusations made by Russia of attacks on the peninsula from mainland Ukraine were similarly groundless.
A source in Russian law enforcement agencies told Interfax on Monday that the number of people detained as part of the inquiry into preparations to stage acts of sabotage in Crimea had increased to nine, and two of them had already been arrested. Another ten people are witnesses in this case.
A court in Simferopol earlier remanded Ukrainian Zaporizhia region resident Panov and resident of Crimea Andrei Zakhtei in custody.
