MOSCOW, October 6. /TASS/. Those detained for planning terrorist attacks on Jewish religious sites in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk and Pyatigorsk confessed to plotting explosions in synagogues to kill people, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported, releasing a video of their confessions.
Two natives from Central Asian countries who were detained in the Krasnoyarsk Region said they had been tasked with blowing up a synagogue. "I wanted to blow up the synagogue to kill people," one of them said.
A Russian citizen detained in the Stavropol Region also confessed that he "planned a terrorist attack on a synagogue and its parishioners in Pyatigorsk." "I plead guilty and repent for what I have done," he said.
Earlier, the FSB reported that it had thwarted terrorist attacks on Jewish religious sites in the Krasnoyarsk and Stavropol Regions, which were orchestrated by supporters of an international terrorist organization banned in Russia. According to the FSB press office, two individuals from a Central Asian country were apprehended for preparing to detonate a homemade explosive device at the city synagogue, while a Russian citizen was detained in Pyatigorsk for planning to set fire to the building of the Jewish religious community using bottles filled with a flammable substance. The FSB noted that the terrorist attacks were being planned under the pretext of protecting the interests of Palestinian citizens who had suffered during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but in reality, the terrorists' goal was to spark interethnic strife to provoke mass protests in Russia similar to the riots in Dagestan in October 2023, coordinated from abroad via Telegram.
The FSB recalled that earlier, the activities of four members of an international terrorist organization banned in Russia had been suppressed. They were preparing terrorist acts using homemade explosive devices, firearms, and cold weapons against Jewish religious institutions in Moscow. During their arrest, the suspects offered armed resistance and were neutralized by return fire.
"The FSB once again reminds that members of terrorist organizations are actively operating in cyberspace, social networks, and messengers like Telegram and WhatsApp with the aim of recruiting Russian citizens to engage in illegal activities. Recruiters take advantage of their victims' trust to force them to commit serious crimes, for which long prison terms are provided," the press office emphasized.