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Putin warns security forces to watch out for foreign-funded sabotage in Russia-annexed Crimea

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media in Sevastopol, Crimea, after plunging below the waves aboard a submersible craft into the Black Sea, in Sevastopol, Crimea, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Putin traveled aboard the small submersible craft down to the seabed of the Black Sea to view an ancient Byzantine trading ship recently discovered off the coast of Crimea. (Alexei Druzhinin/RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to local residents and the media after plunging aboard a submersible craft into the Black Sea, in Sevastopol, Crimea, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. Putin traveled aboard the small submersible craft down to the seabed of the Black Sea to view an ancient Byzantine trading ship recently discovered off the coast of Crimea.(Alexei Druzhinin/RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo Oleg Sentsov gestures as he stands behind glass in a cage at a court room in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Russian prosecutors are asking a court to send a Ukrainian filmmaker to prison for 23 years on charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015. (AP Photo, File) (The Associated Press)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned his security forces to be wary of foreign-funded sabotage in Russia-annexed Crimea.

The Kremlin annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 following a hastily called referendum and defended its right to the Russian-speaking territory as responding to the people's will.

In his address Wednesday to a security panel in the Crimean naval base of Sevastopol, Putin said several nations are plotting acts of sabotage and recruiting manpower to carry them out and "spread radical propaganda."

Putin instructed Russia's top security officials at the meeting to consider these risks and "act quickly" if necessary.

Putin's statement comes hours after prosecutors in southern Russia urged a court to sentence a prominent Crimean filmmaker to 23 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks.