MOSCOW. March 19 (Interfax) - All of Ukrainian saboteurs' attempts to break into Russian territory have failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"All these attempts by sabotage and terrorist gangs, made up of regular army units of the enemy, foreign mercenaries, who are also being used actively, and riffraff of all sorts, who ended up in the territory of the Kiev regime through different channels, to break into our territory have failed," Putin said at a meeting of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) board on Tuesday.
Putin ordered the FSB to "identify the traitors who took part in those attempts by name."
"We will punish them regardless of the statute of limitations, no matter where they are. And I ask you to give sufficient attention to this work, so that no one has any desire to do the same. We remember what the Vlasovites did on Soviet soil. And we will never forgive those [involved in the latest actions] either," he said.
The information available indicates that enemy groups on the border planned to stage "a real terrorist raid on cities and villages of the Belgorod and Kursk regions", Putin said.
"But they were met in a proper way, by fire, so to speak, as they approached, sustaining heavy losses, including armored hardware and artillery. And as for these traitors, their current masters have no mercy for them at all, using them as cannon fodder, for slaughter. Serves them right," he said.