MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a 48-year-old Russian citizen for planning terrorist attacks in Belgorod, Bryansk, and Tula regions under the direction of Ukrainian special services, the agency’s press office reported.

"A Russian citizen, born in 1976, was arrested for manufacturing improvised explosive devices in the interests of Ukrainian special services. The devices were intended for use in terrorist attacks in Belgorod, Bryansk, and Tula regions," the agency reported, adding that officers seized a ready-to-use 4.8 kg improvised explosive device from the defendant’s home.

"We know that in October 2023 he was recruited by Ukrainian special services; under the guidance of his curator, he transformed his house into a lab for producing explosives and a warehouse for assembling explosive devices," the FSB said.

The defendant transferred the explosive devices to other agents of the Ukrainian special services via discreet dead drops, enabling them to carry out planned terrorist acts at police departments, the House of Officers in Belgorod, and the offices of two energy companies in Bryansk during the Russian presidential election in March 2024. The plans also included blowing up a gas distribution substation in Tula. However, the attacks were thwarted by Russia's law enforcement agencies. The FSB had previously detained seven Russian citizens in connection with these preparations and initiated investigative actions against them.

In addition to the ammonal-based homemade explosive devices, the FSB officers discovered components for explosives, a large cache of ammunition in various calibers, supplies and weapons from the Great Patriotic War, a Makarov pistol, as well as SIM cards, a laptop, and a smartphone used for communication with Ukrainian special services. All seized weapons are now being examined. The Russian Federal Security Service's office for the Kaluga Region has initiated a case against the defendant.