Ukrainian authorities arrest 7 Russians over planning attacks in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Security Service says that it has
arrested seven Russian nationals who it says have been plotting attacks in
Ukraine, ABC News reported.
Two of the seven men claim to work for Russian
intelligence but offered no documentation to back up this claim, ABC News
quoted Ukraine's intelligence agency, which is also known as the SBU, as saying
on Wednesday.
The arrests come days before Ukrainians vote in the
presidential election runoff.
Following news of the arrests, there was some
confusion after Radio Free Europe on Wednesday interviewed someone it thought
was one of the arrested men.
However, it appears that Timur Dzortov, who is an
official in the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia, is just a namesake of the
person from Ingushetia who was arrested in Ukraine. Both men have also served
as deputy chiefs of the regional leaders administration.
The SBU was not immediately available for comment.
This story has been corrected to say that the man
arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service has a different patronymic compared
to the man interviewed by Radio Free Europe, the US news network added.
A patronymic is a persons fathers name which is used
in Russia as a middle name.
