MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained two agents of Ukrainian military intelligence in the Donetsk People's Republic who were involved in assassination attempts on officials. One of the detainees was tasked with locating the place of residence of a Russian journalist in Moscow in 2023, the FSB public relations center reported.
"The activities of an agent network of the main directorate of intelligence of the Ukrainian defense ministry, consisting of two Russian citizens born in 1987 and 1997, have been disrupted on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic. They were involved in the car bombings of a government official of the Kherson region and a former high-ranking officer of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service for the DPR in March and December 2024," the FSB public relations center reported. According to the FSB, they were also preparing terrorist attacks targeting the head of one of the DPR municipalities and a commander of a volunteer battalion participating in the special military operation. One of the detainees, on the instructions of a Ukrainian intelligence officer, traveled to Moscow twice in 2023 to conduct reconnaissance of the residences of a Russian journalist. The FSB did not disclose the journalist’s name.
"The individuals involved are providing confessions," the FSB noted.
According to the FSB, one of the detainees was an agent of the Ukrainian special services in Donetsk. "Operational search activities established that a resident of Donetsk, born in 1987, was recruited by the Ukrainian special services in 2022 to act as an agent. He was tasked with preparing terrorist acts, recruiting perpetrators and supplying them with explosive devices," the FSB public relations center reported. He maintained contact with his handler via the messenger Telegram and enlisted the cooperation of his acquaintance, born in 1997, to carry out tasks for the Ukrainian defense ministry’s main directorate of intelligence. This second individual traveled to Moscow twice in 2023.
The investigative department of the FSB for the DPR has initiated a criminal case against the members of the agent network under article 275 (state treason), parts 2 and 3 of article 205 (terrorist act), and part 1 of article 222.1 (illegal trafficking of explosives or explosive devices) of the Russian criminal code. They have been remanded in custody. Measures are underway to locate the organizer behind the crimes.
The FSB once again emphasized that Ukrainian special services continue to actively search the internet, social networks and Telegram and WhatsApp messengers for potential perpetrators of terrorist acts and sabotage. "As the practice of the Russian special services and law enforcement agencies implementing the principle of inevitability of punishment demonstrates, all criminals will be brought to deserved and severe justice," the FSB stressed.