Moscow - Saba:
The Russian Federal Security Service announced this morning, Monday, that it had foiled a sabotage attempt targeting a railway section in the Primorye region.
The regional directorate of the Federal Security Service (FSB) stated in a statement, as reported by Sputnik, that two 19-year-old men were arrested for attempting to set fire to electrical relay tanks, on the orders of the Ukrainian intelligence services.
The statement read: "The Federal Security Service of Russia in the Primorye Territory thwarted a sabotage attempt on a railway section in the Far Eastern Region."
A criminal case was opened, and the detainees were charged with "sabotage" under paragraph (a) of Part 2 of Article 281 of the Russian Criminal Code. They were remanded in custody. Investigations and criminal proceedings are ongoing.
Earlier on Sunday, the Russian Investigative Committee announced that the collapse of a bridge over a passenger train in Bryansk Oblast and the collapse of a railway bridge as a freight train passed over it in Kursk Oblast, early Sunday morning, were the result of bombings of the bridges, resulting in the deaths and injuries of several people. The committee indicated that the bombings are classified as terrorist attacks.
In a related context, Andrei Klishas, Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Federation Council (the upper house of the Russian parliament), considered the bombing of a bridge while a passenger train was passing underneath it in the Vygonichsky district of Bryansk Oblast to be proof that Ukraine is ruled by a terrorist group. He added that Ukraine had long ago lost its statehood and had become a "terrorist enclave without borders, legitimate authorities, or laws."
It is worth noting that these two incidents came about a day before a potential second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, scheduled to be held in Turkey, aimed at finding a solution to the Ukrainian crisis.
The first round of direct Russian-Ukrainian talks was held in Istanbul on May 16, and the two sides reached several understandings, including an agreement on a prisoner exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side, in addition to an agreement stipulating that Moscow and Kyiv present their vision for a ceasefire in detail and in writing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed the possibility of holding "direct talks without preconditions" with Ukraine in Istanbul, stressing that Russia had never refused to engage in dialogue with the Ukrainian side.
| more of (International) |