Russia Signals Jihadis, Not Ukraine, Behind Crimea Ammo Dump Explosion

Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s top official in the illegally-annexed Crimean peninsula, claimed on Wednesday that Russian FSB security forces have “neutralized” an Islamist terrorist cell.

Russia’s statements and the timing of the arrest implied, without stating outright, that these terrorists could have been responsible for the destruction of an ammunition depot in Crimea on Tuesday.

“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,” Aksyonov said.

Russian state media quoted the FSB describing the six detainees as “belonging to a conspiratorial cell of a terrorist organization,” specifically Hizb ut-Tahrir. 

The FSB repeated Aksyonov’s accusation that “Ukrainian emissaries” gave the cell its marching orders. Russian state media quoted the FSB claiming it seized “propaganda materials, communications equipment and digital storage devices that were used in their terrorist activity” from the suspects.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is an Islamist organization that is banned in Russia, but legal in Ukraine. The Russians launched a perpetual crackdown on Hizb ut-Tahrir after they annexed Crimea in 2014, accusing dozens of Crimean Tatars of joining the group and plotting terrorist attacks, often with very flimsy evidence. 

International human rights groups, Western nations, and the Ukrainian government have accused the Russians of using the Hizb ut-Tahrir bugbear as an excuse to throw Tatars in jail and consolidate their grip on Crimea. The Russians, in turn, frequently depict Hizb ut-Tahrir as a proxy for Ukraine and its Western allies to undermine their occupation of the peninsula.

Aksyonov was an obscure Crimean politician who got jumped up to paramilitary regional strongman by Russian leader Vladimir Putin after the Russian annexation. His written appeal to Putin for military assistance against Ukrainian “fascists” keen to abuse the ethnic Russian population was used as the pretext for the 2014 Russian takeover. According to some witnesses, Aksyonov personally led the military occupation of the Crimean parliament.

The day before Aksyonov and the FSB announced their Hizb ut-Tahrir arrests, massive explosions rocked a Russian military base in Crimea, reportedly damaging a temporary ammunition depot. 

The local Tartars said the base was “hit” by an attack, the Russians vaguely hinted Ukrainian forces were responsible, and Ukraine vaguely agreed that might be the case. On Wednesday, Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk more strongly suggested the blast, along with several other recent incidents in Crimea, were the work of Ukrainian saboteurs.

“These fireworks mean that Crimea is coming back to Ukraine,” Bratchuk said.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has been posting playful tweets about “fireworks” in Crimea and mocking Russia’s attempts to portray the explosion as anything but a successful Ukrainian operation behind enemy lines:

The Russians may not be trying to shift blame to Tatar terrorists with their latest arrests and announcements, but rather preparing to accuse Ukraine of using Hizb ut-Tahrir as saboteurs.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said panicked Russians are fleeing Crimea because they realize the peninsula is “not a place for them.”

According to Zelensky’s broadcast, a record 38,000 cars exited Crimea by bridge on Tuesday after the latest explosions. He suggested more strikes were on the way, and warned the “bungling” of Russian troops could also create dangerous situations.

“Do not approach the military objects of the Russian army,” he advised Crimea residents.