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Neo-Nazi youth gang members conspired to carry out terrorist attack, detectives reveal

Russia’s Federal Security Service said in a statement on Thursday that 16 supporters of Ukraine’s radical online group dubbed M.K.U had been detained in nine Russian cities

MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The Russian Investigative Committee is looking into several criminal cases against the ringleaders and gang members of Ukraine’s radical online group dubbed M.K.U., whose chieftain Yegor Krasnov incited his followers to carry out murders and plot a terrorist attack, the committee’s Spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko told TASS on Thursday.

"Their activities can be viewed as criminal based on several articles of the Russian Criminal Code, which address incitement to murder, preparations for a terrorist attack and deliberate attempts to inflict serious bodily harm," she pointed out.

According to investigators, the gang was organized by Ukrainian national Yegor Krasnov. "Using social media, he incited Russian citizen Alexei Narzyaev to commit two murders for extremist reasons," Petrenko noted. The Moscow Regional Court ruled in January 2021 that compulsory medical treatment be imposed on Narzyayev given his mental illness.

In December 2020, a minor from the Tambov region, who is an M.K.U. member, was detained for conducting preparations for a terrorist attack. He conspired to carry out an explosion at a college campus in Tambov. Components for a homemade explosive device were seized from him, and the teenager has been taken into custody.

Another investigation into the criminal activities of the gang in question is underway in the Saratov Region.

"Investigators are trying to figure out whether Krasnov was involved in other episodes of the M.K.U.’s criminal activities," Petrenko added.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement on Thursday that 16 supporters of the M.K.U neo-Nazi youth gang had been detained in nine Russian cities. According to the FSB, they were involved in committing violent crimes, disseminating extremist propaganda and plotting to carry out explosions at government buildings and armed attacks on civilians.

On March 19, the FSB apprehended 13 M.K.U. gang members in Gelendzhik and another one in Yaroslavl. Extremist materials, bladed weapons and manuals for making explosive devices were seized from them.