Ukrainian military command: Ukrainian military advised not to visit Crimea
Work is being done among Ukrainian military personnel, including those who have been placed in reserve, to explain the undesirability of traveling to the occupied territories, including the Crimea. This was announced on August 17 by Vladislav Seleznev, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a broadcast of the Ukrainian Radio Svoboda’s program “Your Freedom”, while commenting on the arrests of former Ukrainian soldiers whom the Russian law enforcement officials accuse of terrorism.
“Such work is being done, even by the officers working with the personnel,” he said.
Vladislav Seleznev mentioned the risks which exist for former Ukrainian soldiers in the occupied territories, and pointed out that recently he personally was unable to make it to his mother’s funeral in annexed Simferopol since as a participant of the Ukraine’s Army operation in the Donbas and a member of the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian law enforcement authorities had “a great deal of questions” for him.
On August 15, the Russian intelligence agency released a video showing a man being arrested and interrogated. To the camera he called himself Hennadiy Limeshko, born in 1992, and confessed to supposedly preparing an act of sabotage on annexed Crimean territory.
On August 14, the Kremlin-controlled Kyiv District Court of Simferopol arrested Limeshko for a period of two months, until October 13.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced that Limeshko, who is accused by the Russian FSB of being an “SBU agent”, served on contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and was dismissed in May this year on account of unsuitability for service. The SBU called the FSB’s announcement “yet another provocation”.
The so-called DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic) Ministry of State Security reported the arrest of a “sabotage group” led by a soldier from the 8th regiment of the special operation forces of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The Security Service of Ukraine called the information distributed by separatist news outlets “fake”.