Russian security service thwarts alleged terror plot in region bordering Ukraine
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled a terrorist plot in the western region of Bryansk which borders Ukraine, the agency reported on Tuesday.
FSB officers detained a Russian citizen in the city of Bryansk who allegedly “professed Ukrainian nationalist ideology” and was planning to carry out an attack on orders from “representatives of a terrorist organization banned in our country,” the agency said. The detainee was reportedly carrying an improvised explosive device.
The FSB has made footage of the man’s arrest and interrogation public.
“I was tasked with uncovering a cache of explosives and preparing a terrorist attack in one of the public places,” the suspect said in the video, which also shows him digging up the supposed cache from under a tree in a residential neighborhood of Bryansk.
A criminal investigation was launched into the case on charges of “promoting terrorist activities and participation in a terrorist community.” The suspect faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Earlier this month, the FSB said it thwarted another attempted terrorist attack targeting a synagogue in Moscow. The suspect was killed during a standoff with security operatives. The FSB did not disclose his identity, but said he was a citizen of a Central Asian country who had a criminal record back home and became radicalized while serving a prison sentence.
The news comes just three weeks after a major terrorist attack in Moscow Region. Four gunmen stormed the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on March 22, shooting indiscriminately before setting the building on fire. The attack left over 140 people dead and more than 500 injured. ISIS-K, an Afghanistan-based offshoot of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), claimed responsibility for the massacre, but Russian officials later suggested that the Ukrainian security services may have been involved in preparing the assault, possibly using the Islamists as proxies. An investigation into the attack is ongoing.
