Moscow claims Kyiv not just ‘sponsor’ but ‘direct organizer’ of ‘terrorist acts’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Monday claimed that Ukraine is not just a “sponsor” of “terrorist acts” but a “direct organizer” of such acts, in response to a statement by Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov on Saturday.

"This is a truly monstrous statement. This statement, and what Mr. Budanov said, is a direct confirmation that the Kyiv regime is not just sponsoring terrorist activity, but is an immediate organizer of this activity," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed during a press briefing.

Budanov on Saturday said during an interview with Yahoo News that all he will comment on is that they “have been killing Russians" and "will keep killing Russians anywhere” until Ukraine’s victory, in response to a question on the killing of Russian journalist Daria Dugina in August 2022.

Ukraine, however, has so far denied any involvement in the attacks on Russian journalists amid the ongoing Moscow-Kyiv war.

Peskov said Russia strongly condemns such statements and it has special services that will do “everything they must against the backdrop of such statements” and that “no one should have any doubts about this."

Moscow will closely follow the reaction of Western countries towards Budanov’s statements, especially from the US, he added.

“This statement by Mr. Budanov once again confirms the correctness of (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin's decision to launch a special military operation," Peskov also said.

Peskov also said there currently was no decision on the request of Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria to increase the number of Russian peacekeepers in the region.

Earlier in the day, the head of the breakaway region’s representative office in Moscow Leonid Manakov told Russia’s RIA news agency in an interview that its authorities are asking Russia to increase the number of peacekeepers in the region.

Transnistria is an unrecognized breakaway region, which is internationally recognized as part of Moldova but has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since a two-year conflict in 1990-1992.

A cease-fire agreement was signed in July 1992 between Chisinau and Moscow following the conflict, which installed a peacekeeping force in the region made up of Russian, Moldovan, and Transnistrian forces tasked with observing the cease-fire and other security arrangements.