Russia says it has 'neutralized' Islamist cell in Crimea

The top official in Russian-annexed Crimea said on Wednesday that the FSB security service had broken up what he described as a six-person terrorist cell of a banned Islamist group, a day after explosions rocked one of Russia's military bases there.

"All of them are detained. The activities of the terrorists were coordinated, as one would expect, from the territory of the terrorist state of Ukraine," Sergei Aksyonov, the official, said on Telegram. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which wants to restore its control of the Black Sea peninsula which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and accuses Moscow of waging an unprovoked imperial-style war of conquest to seize more of its land.

"All of them are detained. The activities of the terrorists were coordinated, as one would expect, from the territory of the terrorist state of Ukraine." Sergei Aksyonov

Aksyonov said the suspects were members of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia. An FSB statement did not say whether the detained individuals were linked with explosions on Tuesday at a base in Dzhankoi in northern Crimea and last week at a Russian military base in western Crimea, where satellite pictures showed eight Russian warplanes had been destroyed…

LIKELY GRASS FIRE (but seeing smoke in Crimea sure is exciting 🤦🏼🤦🏼):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__1uJzdrJZQ

“ Video of a fire in Crimea near Mizhvodne. No military targets nearby, but the nearby Panske Port is a dropoff point for supply ships. Russian government say its a grass fire.

Hello everyone,

Just a short video here as we lack information at the moment, but something else is burning in Crimea. This video was taken of a pretty hefty blaze. The Russian government has already issues a statement saying that it is a grass fire. But, take with a truck load of salt that statement.

Now, I the fire is near a town called Mizvodne. There are no known military bases there but it does have a large bay—there are a few people speculating that Russia has had ships there. It also faces towards southern Ukraine, so there is speculation that SAM sitesor SAM systems may have been placed there.

There is also some comments that the recoridng of the video looks towards this place here, a port near the town. So if this is accurate it could be some sort of Naval target. Most russian naval ships are at Sevastopol or withdrawn to safer waters. But there could still be some targets—for example, the latest arrival at the port was this supply ship.

So, here is Mizvodne. Now, it is looking increasignly likely that most of the attacks on Crimea are special forces—rather than long range missiles. But I will show the distance from Ukraine anyway, just to cover my bases. So, 185 kilometers across the sea to a possible firing point for any long-range attack. So, within range of Neptune, in range of Hrim-2 or ATACMS if they are active in Ukraine.

So—not much to cover here. All we have to go on is this video of a rather substantial blaze near Mizvidne. With no known military bases or targets, we can rule out a strike on another ammo depot or similar facility.

If this is military related, then my money would be on a SAM site or radar station being targetted.

NASA FIRMS data isn’t showing a fire as of now. There is also nothing on a website somebody emailed to me called zoomearth which has a live satellite which should shot ehat spots—but the region is obscured by cloud at the moment.

So—again, there is no confirmation at all if anything military has been hit. This could be just a grass fire. But, it is worth keeping an eye on just in case. I will of course update if we get confirmation.”

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