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There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian
allegation.
It came amid Russian media reports that security has been
stepped up in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia
annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and that additional security
checks are being made on people wanting to cross a bridge from
Russia's southern Krasnodar region into Crimea.
The FSB said in a statement that it had arrested a Russian
national recruited as an assassin by Ukraine's SBU intelligence
agency who had undergone explosives, reconnaissance and sabotage
training in Ukraine.
His plan, it said, had been to blow up Aksyonov's car, but he
had been detained as he tried to retrieve an explosive device
from a hiding place.
The FSB did not name the arrested man, who it said was in his
mid-thirties. It said he had entered Crimea in June and that it
was investigating him on suspicion of "attempting to commit a
terrorist act" and "of illegally possessing explosives."
Aksyonov thanked the FSB for preventing what he called an
attempt on the lives of the "Republic of Crimea's leadership"
and said he was sure that the individuals who ordered the
assassination would be found and punished.
Ukraine has pledged to retake full control of Crimea, the
headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, as well as large areas
of eastern and southern Ukraine that Russia has captured since
launching its full-scale invasion last year.
Russia's Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday that a 13 km
(8-mile)-long traffic jam had formed at the entrance in Russia's
southern Krasnodar region to the bridge to Crimea. It said that
Crimean transport officials had increased the number of
checkpoints around the bridge on Sunday.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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