MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Ukrainian security agent who was preparing to carry out a terrorist attack against a high-ranking Russian serviceman, the FSB press office told TASS.

"The Federal Security Service has suppressed the illegal activity of a Ukrainian citizen, born in 1995, who was involved in the preparation of a sabotage and terrorist act in Voronezh against a high-ranking serviceman of the Russian armed forces on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services," the press office said. The man confessed to cooperating with the Ukrainian special services and plotting the terrorist act on their instructions, it added.

The FSB said that in September 2022, the man was recruited in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region by employees of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, undergoing intelligence and sabotage training, after which he was sent to Russia. "Ukrainian handlers tasked [the man] with finding out the home address of the Russian serviceman and assassinating him by planting and detonating an explosive device," the FSB said. "Investigators seized from the detainee an explosive device containing over one kilogram of TNT equivalent with detonating elements, two electric detonators, a mechanism for detonating the explosive through radio wavelength, and a fake Russian passport with which he was supposed to leave the country after committing the crime," the FSB said.

The man was disguised as a food delivery person as part of the plot, and investigators detained him on the street in full costume while he was riding a bike.

The FSB regional branch filed criminal charges under Part 4 of Article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Sale, Storage, Transportation or Carrying of Explosives or Explosive Devices as Part of an Organized Group"). The defendant was arrested. Investigators are now considering classifying his crime as preparation of a terrorist act (Article 30, Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code).