Ukraine nabs 15 over alleged unrest plot

Ukraine’s top security agency says it has detained 15 people allegedly suspected of planning unrest in the country’s eastern region of Lugansk.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said it has arrested 15 people and seized hundreds of rifles and petrol bombs following a large-scale operation in Lugansk.

“Ukraine’s Security Service detained 15 activists of a subversive group in a full-scale operation. They confiscated 300 Tommy Guns, one anti-tank grenade launcher, a huge number of grenades; Molotov cocktails; huge amounts of smooth-bore weapons and cold steel arms,” the SBU said.

It also noted that the group allegedly planned to carry out an “armed seizure of power” in the region on April 10, 2014.

Lugansk has been the scene of pro-Russia demonstrations over the past weeks, along with some other eastern Ukrainian cities.

The demonstrations gained momentum after Ukraine’s Crimean territory declared independence from the former Soviet state and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which 96.8 percent of the participants voted for rejoining Russia, with a turnout of 83.1 percent.

Earlier this week, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) also said that it had detained 25 Ukrainians who were planning attacks between March 14 and 16 in the southern and central parts of the country, including in Rostov, Volgograd, Tver, Orel, Belgorod, Kalmykia and Tatarstan regions.

The Ukrainian crisis began last November when the country’s then president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow.

The refusal triggered months of unrest and clashes with the police, which finally led to the ouster of Yanukovych on February 23. He then travelled to Russia, where he was given sanctuary.