MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2021) The explosion of a gas pipeline in Crimea in August was organized by the Ukrainian intelligence with participation of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday.
On August 23, unidentified persons damaged the gas pipeline, located in Crimea's mountainous area and used for supplying gas to a military unit and to the village of Perevalnoye. The gas pipeline operation was restored on the next day. On Monday, four suspects were arrested.
"It was established that this act of sabotage was orchestrated by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate department in Kherson, the so-called Tavria operational service, with participation of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, which is banned in Russia. On September 4, 2021, FSB staffers detained Crimean residents: Mejlis deputy chairman Nariman Dzhelyalov who acted as a middleman, and direct perpetrators Asan and Aziz Akhmetov," the FSB said in a statement.
On direction of a Mejlis leader, the perpetrators traveled to Ukraine in June to be trained to use explosives. The Ukrainian military intelligence pledged to pay them around $2,000 for the act of sabotage. The explosive device was delivered to Crimea in July. The attack was initially scheduled to be carried out on the e Independence Day of Ukraine, celebrated on August 24.
