Kharkiv Oblast borders in the north on Russia’s Belgorod Oblast and is some hundred miles away from the huge newly-established Russian military field camp, one of the possible assault task groups not far from the Ukrainian borders, where the Kremlin has been massing troops and vehicles for a month now.
SBU says its officers stopped the buses with alleged provocateurs from other Ukrainian regions at the entrances to the city of Kharkiv from the directions of Donetsk, Dnipro, and Poltava cities. The agency states that those groups headed to Kharkiv “at the request of one of Ukraine’s pro-Russian political forces” to hold rallies in the city and to provoke public discontent and mass illegal actions during the regular session of the Kharkiv City Council.
SBU states that the titushki provocateurs with their pre-planned actions
“…aimed at destabilizing the socio-political situation in the region and create a picture advantageous for the Russian leadership for justifying possible Russia’s aggressive actions against Ukraine.”
According to SBU, its Coordination Group of the Anti-terrorist Center has been monitoring possible attempts by radical groups to abuse the right of citizens to hold rallies, namely when those aim at provoking riots and other anti-social activities.
The Security Service of Ukraine conducted the above-mentioned anti-terrorist drills jointly with the National Police, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and Military Law Enforcement Service, and other law enforcement organizations.
Andriy Pavlovskii, former journalists= of the sanctioned NewsOne TV channel who now runs several news groups on social media, stated in his Facebook post that MP Illia Kiva from the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc – For Life (OPFL) told in his comment for Pavlovskii’s Telegram channel that those detained by SBU were members of his organization called Patriots For Life.
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