MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Ukrainian special services, working in concert with US and British intelligence agencies, are behind the rise in the number of terror-related crimes in Russia, while PSYOP centers created in Ukraine have unleashed an unprecedented campaign to sow instability in the country, Alexander Bortnikov, Federal Security Service (FSB) chief and National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC) chairman, said.

"Bortnikov pointed out that this year, the number of terror-related crimes endangering national security has significantly grown amid rising tensions in the world and along Russia’s border. First and foremost, this is due to the increased activities of Ukrainian special services and neo-Nazi formations, sponsored by foreign intelligence communities, primarily those in the US and the UK. The PSYOP centers they established in Ukraine have unleashed a campaign, unprecedented in scale, which is aimed at creating instability in our country, spreading neo-Nazi ideas and provoking mass chaos," the National Anti-Terrorism Committee’s press service said in a statement following a committee meeting.

According to Bortnikov, Russian intelligence and law enforcement agencies have thwarted attempts by Ukrainian special services to set up clandestine terrorist cells and recrute marginalized people to carry out explosions and arson attacks and commit other terror-related crimes.

"Evidence has repeatedly come to light of teenagers’ involvement in the Columbine terrorist movement (outlawed in Russia - TASS)," the FSB chief pointed out.

According to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, 228 terror-related crimes, including 146 acts of terrorism, have been prevented since the beginning of 2023. As many as 73 clandestine cells and over 180 organized crime groups involved in arms trafficking have been exposed and 146 underground gun workshops have been eliminated. More than 110 mln rubles ($1.2 mln) have been frozen in the accounts of over 4,000 individuals involved in funding terrorism and the activities of Ukrainian armed units. More than 15,500 files with terrorism-related content were removed from the Internet.

The NAC noted that harsher penalties were introduced for carrying out terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage, organizing and participating in terrorist syndicates, failing to abide by mandatory anti-terrorism security requirements and committing other related crimes.