Ukraine ‘going all in on terrorism’ – FSB head
Ukraine is resorting to terrorist methods with the goal of inflicting economic damage on Russia and intimidating its population, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has warned.
Speaking at a National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC) meeting alongside the heads of other federal ministries on Tuesday, the FSB chief outlined the methods Ukraine is likely to continue using, and discussed countermeasures.
“The Kiev regime is going all in on terrorism, ramping up its sabotage and terrorist acts,” Bortnikov said.
It will be “primarily targeting the facilities of the fuel and energy sector, transport, defense industry, and places of mass gatherings of people,” he added.
Ukraine will attempt to carry out strikes deep into Russian territory using drones and Western-supplied arms, with the aim of “inflicting maximum economic damage and intimidating the population,” the top security official said.
To facilitate this, Ukrainian special services recruit people who support international terrorist organizations, as well as easily manipulable people in Russia, using phone fraud, bribery, and blackmail, he went on to say.
Since the beginning of the year, Russian law enforcement has foiled 23 terrorist attacks, arrested more than 224 suspects and their accomplices, 97 militants, and more than 100 of their collaborators, Bortnikov revealed. He added that a significant portion of the foiled attacks were orchestrated from Ukraine and by foreign terrorist organizations.
In light of this, the Russian authorities will build further coordination between federal ministries regarding terrorist threats, and will take steps to guard critical infrastructure from drone strikes, he said.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of regular, indiscriminate drone and artillery strikes on residential areas and civilian infrastructure. Last week, a Ukrainian drone struck a school bus – clearly marked ‘children’ – in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, injuring five children and the driver.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed international watchdog organizations for ignoring the attack. “Is this the first time that Ukrainian militants have deliberately targeted children? No, far from the first time,” she said.
Russia suffered one of the biggest terrorist attacks in recent history in March last year, when four gunmen killed 145 people and injured more than 500 others at the Crocus City Hall concert venue just outside of Moscow.
While the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) terrorist group claimed responsibility, the FSB alleged that Kiev orchestrated the attack, using the Islamists as proxies.
