The “acts of sabotage” on Russian soil trigger unrest in Russia. President Putin convenes the Security Council and apparently cancels a trip to the North Caucasus. So far, not much of it has come out. Kremlin spokesman Peskov announces “measures” against “infiltrators”.
A day after mysterious attacks by gunmen in the Russian border area with Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a consultation with the permanent members of the National Security Council. However, Putin did not comment on the events at the beginning of the meeting in Moscow. The day before he had described it as an act of terrorism. Instead, Putin named the protection of Russian security organs’ buildings from terrorist attacks as a topic for the meeting.
The President asked Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev to report. Only these two short sentences were made public by the Kremlin and Russian media. According to the information, the heads of the government, parliament, the military and the security authorities took part.
On Thursday, the media linked the meeting of Putin’s closest advisory body to the attacks in the Bryansk border region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the Security Council meeting but did not comment on the agenda. A planned trip by Putin to the North Caucasus has been cancelled.
The Russian domestic secret service FSB reported on Thursday of clashes with alleged Ukrainian sabotage squads. According to Russian sources, the intruders killed two men and injured a child. Ukraine denied any involvement. Later, in a confession video, Russian nationalists, who are fighting for Ukraine, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Like Putin, Peskov spoke of an act of terrorism that needed to be clarified. Then the authorities would draw the necessary conclusions, Peskov said on Friday, according to the state news agency Tass. Peskow said “measures” would be taken to prevent “such things from happening” in the future.