Vice-Chairman of the Security Service Viktor Kononenko said at a briefing on the activation of the special services of the Russian Federation. "Only in February, the Service recorded attempts by Russia to carry out twelve such provocations," he said..

Kononenko also told that in 2015 the Russian special services allegedly planned to blow up the Ukrainian missile cruiser, which was conserved since 1996, in order to intimidate the local population (the cruiser is stationed in Nikolaev) on the Constitution Day of Ukraine..

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense and Security Committee Yury Shvytkin called this statement a provocation.

"We do not have agents or residents on the territory of Ukraine.

We consider the Ukrainian people to be fraternal and are in no way interested in escalating tensions, unlike the Ukrainian authorities. Therefore, all this - provocative talk, with the help of which they try to further inflame the hostility between Ukrainians and Russians, "said the parliamentarian in a conversation with RT.

He expressed confidence that the Kiev authorities are deliberately fueling the situation ahead of the presidential elections in order to divert the attention of the population from domestic problems.