The Russian security services (FSB) said on Monday that they had killed four Ukrainian “saboteurs” the day before when they tried, according to this source, to enter the Russian region of Bryansk, bordering Ukraine.
“As a result of the armed clashes on December 25, four saboteurs were killed during an attempt to penetrate the territory of the Bryansk region from Ukraine,” the FSB was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
According to the FSB, this group, accused of wanting to “commit acts of terrorism and sabotage”, was equipped with German-made SIG Sauer submachine guns, communication devices, as well as “four improvised explosive devices”.
A video, broadcast by the Ria-Novosti news agency and attributed to the FSB, shows four bloodied corpses, surrounded by weapons and dressed in winter camouflage uniforms. AFP could not confirm these statements from an independent source.
Series of incidents at Russian military sites
In recent months, Russia has been the victim of a series of incidents, including explosions, at military sites and major infrastructure, which Moscow has blamed on Ukraine.
For Colonel Michel Goya, BFMTV defense consultant, if “it is always very difficult to measure the reliability of official Russian information”, “we are seeing an abnormal number of fires in ammunition depots, which suggests that there is a clandestine Ukrainian action with perhaps deep local complicity”.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Monday to have shot down a Ukrainian drone as it approached an air base in southern Russia, in the Saratov region, located more than 600 kilometers from Ukraine. According to this source, three people died from the debris of the drone after it was destroyed.
Russian lawmakers last week approved a new law establishing “long prison sentences” for “saboteurs,” pointing to emerging “terrorist” threats, including from foreigners, amid the conflict in Ukraine.
Source: BFM TV
