Source: MI6 prepared Ukrainian saboteurs to be sent to Africa
MOSCOW, Aug 16 - RIA Novosti. The British intelligence service MI6 has prepared a sabotage and punitive detachment of Ukrainian militants to be sent to Africa, whose task is to counteract the cooperation of the countries of this region with Russia, a military and diplomatic source said.
The Kiev authorities, at the request of Britain, in July gave relevant instructions to the SBU and the GUR (Main Intelligence Directorate — ed.) of the Ministry of Defense to assist representatives of the British MI6 intelligence and SAS special forces in selecting 100 militants from Ukrainian national formations with significant combat experience on the "eastern front," the agency interlocutor noted.
The tasks of the detachment include sabotage and the elimination of African leaders focused on cooperation with Russia, the source said. The departure of the detachment, according to him, is scheduled for the second half of August.
The unit, according to the source, is commanded by an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine Vitaly Prashchuk.
"Terrorist Army"
In November last year, the Grayzone portal, with reference to documents and fragments of correspondence, reported that British intelligence officers had concluded an agreement with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on training the Ukrainian "guerrilla terrorist army" to organize sabotage in the Crimea.
It was noted that the same people who advocated the training of "partisans" were responsible for drawing up plans for a strike on the Crimean Bridge: advisor to the NATO Secretary General Chris Donnelly, MI6 British foreign intelligence officer Guy Spindler and former Lithuanian Defense Minister Audrus Butkevicius.
Initially, it was assumed that Ukrainians would be trained at the Yavoriv training ground in the Lviv region in western Ukraine. Then it was decided to train fighters in Greece and Poland.
Secretly worked in Russia
The special forces of England have been secretly involved in operations in at least 19 countries since 2011, including Russia and Ukraine, the British organization "Fight against Armed Violence" (AOAV) reported in May according to the results of its research.
In Ukraine, British specialists conducted reconnaissance and, together with American special services, trained the AFU fighters, the authors of the document said. These data on secret special forces missions raise questions about transparency and the legal basis of their activities, the organization noted.
According to AOAV, the list of countries where British special forces units were secretly deployed includes Estonia, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Russia, and Ukraine. In addition, British special forces conducted exercises in Oman, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The full list of countries where their activities were carried out is most likely much wider, the organization added.