STING OPERATION PLANNED IN CRIMEA

The Tavrichesky Kurier (on-line edition of the Crimean Committee www.freecrimea.org) has learned that the Ukrainian secret police (SBU) is planning a sting operation against pro-Russian militants in the Crimea. The SBU wants to set up a fake radical Russian group to lure all anti-Ukrainian activists and arrest them on charges of separatism. Such charges can bring jail sentences up to 10 years. The group, named “Belaya Svitka”, would be posing as an organisation fighting for seceding from the Ukraine and rejoining Russia. The Belaya Svitka would act under supervision of the SBU. Sources say that a Crimean businessman with a Russian name is involved in the planned operation. The edition says it knows his name but would not identify him because the information is not confirmed. Sources also report that the Belaya Svitka has ties with the Bloc of Yulia Timoshenko.