The situation in the Russian region of Briansk, bordering Ukraine and where authorities have denounced the incursion of Ukrainian “saboteurs”, is “under control”, the Russian secret services (FSB) reported on Thursday, which also claimed to have explosives. found it. .
“The situation in the towns of the Klimovski district, Briansk region, is under the control of law enforcement officers. The area is being monitored and inspected. A large number of explosives of various types have been found and mine clearance is underway”said the Federal Security Service (FSB, heir to the KGB), quoted by Russian news agencies.
Russian secret services also confirmed the local governor’s report, which referred to the death of a civilian and an 11-year-old child injured after “saboteurs” fired on a vehicle in the town of Lioubetchané. The same source said a ground-based operation continued to neutralize cross-border infiltrations that could have involved “hostage-taking”.
In Moscow, the spokesman of the Kremlin (Russian presidency) also spoke of the raid this Thursday morning by an armed group of Ukrainians in the Bryansk region, referring to a “terrorist attack”, which Kiev denied. “It was an attack by terrorists. Measures are being taken to eliminate these terrorists”said Dmitri Peskov.
Referring to the measures Moscow can take at the international level, Peskov indicated that Russia “will continue to attract the attention of the world public in light of these terrorist attacks”, which he says are being promoted by these people (Ukrainian terrorists)” The attack was also mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who denounced a “terrorist attack” in that southeastern region of the country near the border with Ukraine.
For its part, the Ukrainian presidency denied these allegations, referring to a “deliberate provocation” aimed at justifying Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than a year. In a post on the social network Twitter, the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Mykhailo Podoliak, claimed that this “story” of saboteurs “is a classic deliberate provocation”. “Russia wants to scare its people to justify the offensive in Ukraine,” the adviser said.
Several regions of Russia have been bombed since the beginning of the conflict, but raids by “saboteurs” are rare. In a televised statement, Putin spoke of an attack carried out by “neo-Nazis” and “terrorists” who “opened fire on civilians”. “We will crush them,” said the Russian head of state.
According to the Kremlin, Putin has canceled a planned trip to the Russian Caucasus for this Thursday to monitor the evolution of the situation in Briansk. In two videos posted to social media, four men in uniform present themselves as members of a group of “Russian volunteers” who have been conscripted into the Ukrainian army and claim to be infiltrating Briansk.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945). Information about the war in Ukraine released by the two sides cannot immediately be independently confirmed.
Source: DN
