Terrorist Threat From Ukrainian Nationalists Rising in Crimea

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said that it is necessary to complete the establishment of anti-terrorist commissions in the municipalities of Crimea.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The terrorist threat from Ukrainian nationalists is on the rise in Crimea, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said Wednesday.

"It is necessary to complete the establishment of anti-terrorist commissions in the municipalities. This is particularly important in light of the rising threat of terrorist acts by Ukrainian militants and nationalist organizations," Patrushev said during a national security meeting.

Crimea's secession from Ukraine took place after a nationalist government came to power in Kiev through a coup in February, 2014, which alienated Crimea's majority Russian-speaking population of 2.4 million.

Crimea refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new authorities in Kiev, and staged a referendum in March 2014, in which 96 percent of voters chose to join Russia.

Following Crimea's reunification, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of Ukraine's Right Sector nationalist party members believed to have plotted terrorist acts in the Crimean cities of Yalta, Sevastopol and Simferopol.