SIMFEROPOL. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine's attempts to scare the population of Crimea with acts of sabotage such as gas pipeline explosions are futile, Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov said.
"This is yet more proof that the activity of provocateurs from the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars [branded an extremist organization and banned in Russia] and their followers are part of hybrid warfare being waged against Russia and that Ukraine is a terrorist state. The artist is training terrorists, he is trying to scare Crimean residents with violence and terror. This tactic will fail, and a worthy response will be given to any kind of provocation," Aksyonov told reporters.
In his opinion, the gas pipeline blast was not done without the Americans.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday that Nariman Dzhelyalov, deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, who served as an intermediary, and two perpetrators have been detained in a case on a gas pipeline blast in the Crimean village of Perevalnoye in August. The FSB said that the act of sabotage was plotted under the supervision of Ukrainian intelligence and with the participation of the Mejlis. The suspects have been taken into custody.