Ukrainian saboteurs met with retribution
The preliminary investigation has been completed in the criminal cases against Andrei Zakhtey and Yevgeny Panov, accused of plotting sabotage in Crimea. They were detained in August 2016 near the border with Ukraine after shootouts with Russian security forces, during which an FSB officer and a paratrooper were killed, Kommersant reports .
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Panov is charged with illegal storage or transportation of weapons, smuggling of ammunition and explosive devices, and preparation of sabotage committed by an organized group. According to his lawyer Sergei Legostov, the trial in the case could begin in March next year.
According to investigators, Panov is a career employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (GUR MO) of Ukraine, and Zakhtey was supposed to transport saboteurs around Crimea.
Zakhtey fully admitted his guilt and entered into a pre-trial cooperation agreement. His case has been separated into separate proceedings and will be considered in a special manner. According to Zakhtei's wife, the trial may take place after the New Year holidays.
In turn, Zakhtey’s lawyer told the publication that his client forbade him to communicate with the press and even wrote a corresponding letter.
“Until the criminal case is put to rest, no one will give any interviews,” Zakhtei wrote.
Earlier, another person involved in a large investigation into the preparation of sabotage in Crimea, Dmitry Shtyblikov, who planned sabotage at Black Sea Fleet facilities and was detained in Sevastopol in the fall of 2016 with another group of saboteurs, received five years in a maximum security colony. He fully admitted his guilt and confirmed that he is an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which the court took into account when passing the sentence.
Ukrainian saboteurs met with retribution.