MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has apprehended a Russian national recruited by Ukraine’s military intelligence for committing terrorist attacks in Russia, the press offices of the FSB and the Investigative Committee reported on Friday.
As the Investigative Committee specified, the suspect was identified during a criminal probe into a blast that occurred at the Rybnoye-Blockpost 204th km railway stretch in the central Ryazan Region on November 11, 2023 that caused 15 freight railcars to capsize.
"The perpetrator turned out to be a resident of the Ryazan Region born in 1988 with Russian and Italian citizenship. The detainee gave confessionary evidence during his questioning," the Investigative Committee said.
"Pursuant to the detainee’s testimony, he was recruited by a staffer of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Department in Istanbul in February 2023, after which he underwent sabotage training in the town of Jekabpils (Latvia) with the direct participation of Latvian special services and in March 2023 he returned to Ryazan," the FSB press office said.
According to the FSB’s data, on July 20, 2023, acting on an assignment from an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Department, the suspect made explosives that he used to attack the Dyagilevo military airfield in Ryazan with the help of four quadcopters.
During the searches, the security officers seized from the detainee components for making explosive substances and explosive devices, communications equipment and electronic media with photo and video reports on the crimes he had committed.
As the Russian Investigative Committee reported, the suspect will soon face criminal charges in the freight train blast probe opened on counts of part 2 of article 205 ("Terrorist Act") and part 3 of article 222.1 ("Illegal Acquisition and Storage of Explosive Substances or Explosive Devices") of Russia’s Criminal Code. Measures are underway to establish the suspect’s complicity in committing other terrorist and subversive acts on an assignment from the Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB press office said.