MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Russia’s intelligence service FSB detained four members of the Artpodgotovka (artillery preparation) movement’s branch, who plotted arsons of administrative buildings in Moscow on the Day of People’s Unity, celebrated in Russia on November 4, the service told TASS on Friday.
"FSB located and stopped activities of the underground Artpodgotovka movement, which members plotted for November 4-5 extremist actions, organizing arsons of administrative buildings, where they planned using explosives, as well as attacks on the police to provoke mass disorders," FSB said.
"All members of the branch have been detained," the source said, reporting confiscated 15 bottles with explosive substances.
"In cooperation with the Interior Ministry, FSB stopped Artpodgotovka’s activities in the cities of Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Kazan, Samara and Saratov," the intelligence service said.
According to FSB, the Artpodgotovka unregistered inter-regional movement and its online portal were organized by a Russian national Vyacheslav Maltsev to organize a "revolution" in Russia. In July 2017, criminal proceedings began against the organizer ("public calls for extremist activities"), but the man escaped an arrest as he fled abroad, from where he continued propaganda of using force.
"The movement’s members, who remained in Russia, were forming groups to organize extremist actions to destabilize the social-political environment," FSB said.
The investigation does not publish names of the detained.