SBU detains two saboteurs from 'Strelok' group

On April 23 SBU detained two dangerous criminals.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has detained two people who were members of a subversive group led by Colonel of the General Staff of the Main Intelligence Department of the Russian Armed Forces Igor Strelkov, known under the call sign "Strelok."

"As part of an antiterrorist operation, on April 23 SBU detained two dangerous criminals who were members of Strelkov's subversive group," the head of the SBU press center, Maryna Ostapenko, said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

She said that the detained "citizen P." was involved in coordinating the Crimean branch of the Russian Unity Party and members of the intelligence and sabotage group of the Main Intelligence Department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, headed by Strelkov, and organized seizures of administrative buildings in Artemivsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk region.

Ostapenko added that this person was also responsible for the supply of firearms to individuals who were involved in extremist activities.

She noted that from October 7 to October 20 this man was in Crimea, where he received respective instructions with the participation of Russian secret services and diplomats of the Russian Consulate General in Simferopol on further work to destabilize the situation in the southeastern regions of Ukraine.

"The second detainee is Russian citizen S. who entered Ukraine using a Ukrainian passport as a cover document," she said.

Ostapenko said that "the analysis of the data indicates that the detainee S. could be a technical specialist who is responsible for encrypted communication with the center and uses the call sign 'Lastochka,' possesses important information on the activity of saboteurs in Ukraine.

She said that after the arrest of the said persons, people from their entourage tried to seize the vehicle in which the detainees were transported.