KIEV, Nov. 10 – Tensions between Ukraine and Russia rose on Thursday after Russian security authorities announced they had detained a group of alleged Ukrainian saboteurs planning attacks in Crimea.

Ukraine denied the allegations by the Russian authorities, calling it “a fake story” aimed at putting blame on Kiev for any potential escalation.

"Nobody has detained Ukrainian military personnel," Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, told Reuters. "This is yet another frame-up by the Russian security forces."

The development comes a day after a presidential election in the U.S. resulted in the victory by Republican candidate Donald Trump, who will officially replace President Barack Obama on January 20, 2017.

Andrei Illarionov, a former senior economic aide to President Putin and now a researcher with Cato Institute in Washington, said Putin may be enticed to use time between now and the inauguration in January to try to stir up the conflict in Ukraine.

“Obama is now demobilized. Trump has not arrived yet. So, there is not even a clay policeman guarding international streets. Everything is permitted,” Illarionov wrote on his blog.

“This is an incredibly enticing period” for Putin to try to cause even more trouble in Ukraine, Illarionov said.

Russia's Federal Security Service said on Thursday it had detained a group of Ukrainian saboteurs who it accused of planning to attack military sites and infrastructure in Crimea.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it had confiscated explosive devices and weapons from the group, which it said was made up of intelligence agents from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

The Interfax news agency cited a person familiar with the matter as saying that the FSB had detained three Ukrainian military personnel who had been plotting to attack power plants and water purification facilities in Crimea.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine said the FSB story was false.

The incident echoes a similar episode in August when Russia said it had detained a group of Ukrainian saboteurs and dismantled a Ukrainian spy network inside Crimea. Kiev said that incident never happened either.

Real or imagined, the August episode stirred tensions between Moscow and Kiev with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Ukraine of using terrorist tactics to try to provoke a new conflict. (nr/er/ez)