| 06.12.200916:00 (GMT) | 19 officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), who were working with the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea, Ukraine, will leave the territory of Ukraine till December 13, Ukrainian media reported, quoted the sources in the command of the fleet. Officially, neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian side would not confirm nor deny this information. Agreements on this were reached in difficult negotiations, as informally the presence of the FSB officers was connected with the presence of the Russia's fleet in Sevastopol, Moscow-based daily Nezavisimaya gazeta writes.
"To date we have created a powerful counter-intelligence unit, working in Simferopol, Sevastopol and other Crimean cities. Ukraine's own security forces can provide security of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia, meaning the full range of possible threats", Valentin Nalyvaychenko, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), is cited by the newspaper. Nalyvaychenko has stressed that the assistance of foreign intelligence services to the Ukrainian side is no longer needed.
The sources of the Nezavisimaya gazeta, close to the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, argue that even the decision to withdraw from the Crimea the FSB officers was not influenced by years of Kiev’s requests. The persons interviewed by the newspaper are confident that the real reason for the decision on withdrawal of the Russian FSB officers could be the early November scandal in Sevastopol. The Crimean media reported that some citizens have found in a restaurant a packet of 180 pages, or 10 classified documents of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Before the discovery of the classified documents, media reported on the suicide of the Chief of the Topographic Service 810 of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Marines Brigade, a 27-year-old Captain-Lieutenant. Although no connection between these events was officially revealed, the sources of the daily admit that exactly this set of events has lead to the withdrawal of the FSB officers of the Crimea. At least the militaries do not consider leakage of such information an accident. | |
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