Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had arrested a number of people over planning “a series of sabotage and terrorist acts” in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Citizens of Russia and Ukraine were arrested, as one of them also has a Bulgarian passport, it was reported. According to the version of the Russian service, the group planned to assassinate local governor Sergei Aksyonov, the chairman of the regional parliament Vladimir Konstantinov and the mayor of Yalta Yanina Pavlenko.

Russia also claims that Roman Mashovets, a reserve officer of the Ukrainian military intelligence and deputy head of the office of the Ukrainian president, was the direct organizer of the attacks. It is claimed that the explosives were sent to Russia from Bulgaria via Turkey and Georgia with the help of a Bulgarian company of Ukrainian citizen. A person named Petranov, who is said to have Ukrainian and Bulgarian citizenship, was allegedly responsible for the delivery on Russian territory. The information was provided by the BNR correspondent in Moscow, Angel Grigorov.