Russia has reportedly deployed its advanced S-400 air defense missile system to Crimea, days after accusing Ukrainian intelligence agents of plotting terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure of the peninsula.
"The antiaircraft missile regiment of the 4th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Southern Military District based in the Republic of Crimea has received a modern S-400 Triumf air defense missile system for operation," read a statement from the Southern Military District’s press office carried by Russia’s state-run TASS News Agency.
The system will be used in the Caucasus 2016 strategic exercises in Russia "after the preparations are over and the rearmed regiment is redeployed," the statement continued.
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been exacerbated in recent days after Russia’s Federal Security Service claimed to have foiled terror plots planned in Crimea by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence on "critically-important elements of the peninsula’s infrastructure and life support." Russia has reportedly arrested individuals in connection with the alleged incidents for questioning.
Ukrainian officials described the accusations as baseless. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Wednesday that Russia will use the allegations as a false "pretext for more military threats against Ukraine." Poroshenko has ordered forces on the border with Crimea and the frontline in Eastern Ukraine to be on high alert.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in spring 2014, provoking international sanctions. Fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in Ukraine has persisted for more than two years, intensifying in the eastern parts of the country over the last month.
Efforts to end the conflict and bring peace to the region have been unsuccessful. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of resorting to the "practice of terrorism" and said that it would be "pointless" to pursue peace negotiations with Ukrainian officials.