FSB thwarts sabotage in Crimea

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced the arrest of a Russian-Ukrainian citizen in the city of Kerch in Russia’s Crimea on suspicion of intending to plant an explosive device at a power system facility. 

The 52-year-old man, whose name has not been disclosed, has been accused of illegal acquisition and possession of an explosive device and intent to carry out an act of sabotage. He now faces 20 years to life in prison. 

According to an FSB press release, authorities discovered an improvised explosive device (IED) when searching the man’s apartment and found correspondence with representatives of the special services of Ukraine on his mobile phone. The security service claimed that Ukrainian operatives were coordinating the suspect’s activities. 

A video shared by the FSB from the man’s phone appears to show him filming some sort of energy facility and explaining in Ukrainian what he sees to his handlers in Kiev. 

Last month, a 45-year-old Ukrainian citizen in Moscow Region was arrested on suspicion of setting fire to railway equipment. The man, who stands accused of sabotage, is believed to have been acting as part of an organized group and faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted. 

Meanwhile, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov warned last week that Western and Ukrainian intelligence services had launched an “aggressive brainwashing and recruitment [campaign]” in an attempt to involve Russian youths in sabotage, extremist activities, and terrorist attacks against their own country.

According to Bortnikov, since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, security services have prevented some 118 terrorist attacks in the country, many of which were being prepared by young people and minors. 

The FSB director also pointed to “a serious threat” stemming from attempts by some students who are influenced by various “destructive subcultures” to lay the groundwork for attacks on Russian schools and other educational institutions. “Some of [these subcultures] are coordinated from Ukrainian territory,” he added, according to the statement. 

In late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the West had “never hesitated to use both radicals and extremists for their own interests.” “They always use against us whatever is at hand,” he said at the time.