Russia’s President Putin attends Prosecutor General collegium meeting in Moscow. (Archyde.com)
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused, on Wednesday, Western intelligence services, which he did not name, of involvement in “terrorist attacks” in his country, three days after a famous Russian military blogger was killed in an explosive device detonation in St. Petersburg.
Putin said, while chairing a meeting of the National Security Council, the facts of which were televised, that “there is every reason to believe that third countries and Western intelligence services are involved in preparing sabotage and terrorist acts” in Russia as well as in the Ukrainian territories under Moscow’s control.
The meeting was attended by the leaders of the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia last year.
During the meeting, the Russian president accused the Ukrainian authorities of having committed “serious crimes against civilians living there” in these four regions.
“terrorist attacks”
He added that the Kiev forces “do not spare anyone” in their attacks on these areas, from shelling them with artillery to carrying out “terrorist attacks” targeting Russian-appointed officials and other public figures.
Putin ordered Russian security forces to “do everything possible to ensure the safety of the local population” in these areas.
A Russian military blogger was killed by an explosive device inside a cafe in St. Petersburg
And Sunday, the famous military blogger Maxim Fomin, known for his support for the Russian attack in Ukraine, was killed in an explosive device explosion inside a cafe in St. Petersburg (northwest).
Assassination of a Russian blogger
On Monday, Russia accused Ukraine of orchestrating the attack with the complicity of supporters of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
For its part, Ukraine says that the blogger’s assassination is nothing more than a settling of scores within Russian circles supporting the invasion.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Fomin’s assassination would be “one of the topics for discussion” in the UN Security Council, whose rotating presidency Russia assumed, on Saturday.