UPDATE - Russia claims to have foiled Ukraine's plot to assassinate Moscow-appointed Crimea head

ADDS COMMENTS BY KREMLIN SPOKESMAN DMITRY PESKOV

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed on Monday that it foiled a plan hatched by the Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) to assassinate the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, an autonomous region on the northern coast of the Black Sea annexed by Russia in 2014.

"In the course of the operational-search activities, a Russian citizen born in 1988 was identified and detained, who was recruited by the SBU and completed a training course in reconnaissance and subversive activities on the territory of Ukraine, including mine-explosive training," the FSB told Russian state news agency TASS.

The FSB claimed that the individual detained planned to carry out the assassination by planting a bomb in Sergey Aksyonov's car, the news agency added.

In a separate statement on his Telegram account, Aksyonov thanked FSB officers for preventing the plot to assassinate him.

“The suspect has been detained. Our intelligence agencies work clearly and efficiently,” according to Aksyonov, who said he is confident that the perpetrator will be identified and prosecuted.

Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it wished Aksyonov "strength of mind" and described him as a "real fighter."

The Ukrainian authorities have yet to respond to the claims.