Russian military personnel were kidnapped to be exchanged for Ukrainian saboteurs
SBU officers captured Russian servicemen Maxim Odintsov and Alexander Baranov at the border in order to exchange them for Ukrainian intelligence officers Dmitry Shtyblikov and Alexey Besarabov, arrested in Crimea. The head of the NTV bureau in Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, wrote about this on his Facebook page.
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“The capture of Russian military personnel at the Chongar checkpoint is a recognition that Shtyblikov’s group is professional Ukrainian intelligence officers. They took ours for exchange. A whole special operation was carried out. Let’s see, this is a comma, there is no full stop in this story yet,” Kryuchkov wrote.
Russian servicemen - warrant officer Maxim Odintsov and sergeant Alexander Baranov - were captured on the border with Crimea by officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Monday afternoon, November 21.
On November 10, the FSB reported the detention of alleged Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea; during a search, explosive devices and weapons were found in their possession. In August, Russian special services also announced the discovery and detention of a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group consisting of seven people.
On November 14, the Russian FSB released a video recording of the interrogation of Dmitry Shtyblikov and Alexey Besarabov, arrested in Crimea, during which they admitted that they served in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and their goal was to collect intelligence data and prepare sabotage.
Russian servicemen kidnapped for exchange for Ukrainian saboteurs