MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has said it prevented terrorist attacks in Crimea prepared by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate.

"The Russian Federal Security Service prevented terrorist attacks in the Republic of Crimea prepared by the main intelligence directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. Their planned target was critically important infrastructure," the FSB said on its website, adding that the purpose of the planned attacks was "to destabilize the socio-political situation in the region as preparations for elections of federal and regional authorities are underway."

Group of saboteurs detected close to state border

A group of saboteurs was spotted overnight to August 7 near the city of Armyansk, close to the border with Ukraine, thanks to investigative work. "A FSB officer was killed in a skirmish when terrorists were being detained," the FSB statement said.

Twenty improvised explosive devices containing more than 40 kilograms of TNT equivalent, ammunition, fuses, antipersonnel and magnetic bombs, grenades and the Ukrainian armed forces’ standard special weapons were found at the scene, the FSB said.

Detainees giving confessions

The Russian Federal Security Service added that "an intelligence network of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate has been eliminated thanks to measures taken on the Crimean Peninsula."

"Ukrainian and Russian citizens who provided assistance in preparing terrorists attacks have been detained. They are giving confessions," the statement said. According to the FSB, one of the organizers of the planned terrorist attacks was Yevgeny Panov, a resident of Ukraine’s Zaporozhye region born in 1977, an employee of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate who was detained as well and is giving a confession.