SBU prevented an assassination attempt on the head of the Crimea

Sergei Aksyonov, Russia-backed head of Crimea Photo: OLEKSEI PAVLISHAK/REUTERS how he was able to blow up Aksyonov's car.

Ukraine did not immediately comment on Russia's accusations.

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This comes amid Russian media reports of increased security in Crimea, on the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and more security screenings for people wishing to cross the bridge from Krasnodar Krai in southern Russia to Crimea.

The FSB statement says that it arrested a Russian citizen recruited as a hitman by the intelligence department of the SBU of Ukraine, who underwent explosive, reconnaissance and sabotage training in Ukraine.

His plan. , it was said, was supposed to blow up Aksyonov's car, but was detained while trying to remove an explosive device from the cache.

«An attempt to commit a terrorist act»

The FSB did not give the name of the arrested person, who, according to her, was about thirty-five years old. It stated that he had entered Crimea in June and that he was under investigation on suspicion of «attempting to commit a terrorist act» and «illegal possession of explosives.»

Aksenov thanked the FSB for preventing that he called the attempts on the life of the “leaders of the Republic of Crimea” and expressed confidence that those who ordered the murder would be found and punished.

Ukraine pledged to regain full control over Crimea, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, as well as large territories in the east and southern Ukraine, which Russia seized after launching a so-called “special military operation” last year, which Kiev and the West are describing as a brutal war of conquest.

Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on Monday that at the entrance to southern Krasnodar edge to the bridge in the Crimea formed a 13-kilometer traffic jam. It said that on Sunday the Crimean transport workers increased the number of checkpoints around the bridge.