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FSB starts investigating Moscow cell of Network terrorist group

It is noted that some of the people that were previously convicted as part of the Network case were sent to Moscow’s Lefortovo detention unit

© Vitaly Nevar/TASS

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, has started investigating members of a Moscow cell of the Network terrorist group, a source in law enforcement agencies told TASS on Monday.

Their homes in Moscow have been searched, the person said.

"Investigators of Russia’s FSB have conducted searches today at the addresses of the anarchists and their relatives, as part of an investigation of a criminal case against members of the Moscow cell of the Network," the person said.

He said some of the people that were previously convicted as part of the Network case were sent to Moscow’s Lefortovo detention unit. They gave testimony that points to Azat Miftakhov, a post-graduate Moscow State University student that was previously convicted of arson, as a member of the Moscow cell.

"Their testimony is being verified by investigators," the person said. The convict’s defense lawyers declined to comment.

According to the FSB, the Network group, which operates across several Russian regions and has been designated as a terrorist organization in Russia, planned terrorist attacks before presidential elections and football World Cup in 2018 in a bid to destabilize the situation in the country and then seize power in an armed coup. The items seized from some suspects included explosives, grenades, hand guns and rifles. The group was established in 2016 and comprised cells in Penza, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

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