MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. FSB officers in St. Petersburg have successfully thwarted a terrorist plot involving two Russian nationals, who were a planning an attack against a senior Russian military official under the guidance of Ukrainian secret services.

According to the FSB Public Relations Center, "The illegal activities of these two Russian citizens – who, under orders from Ukrainian security agencies, intended to carry out a terrorist attack against a high-ranking officer of the Russian Ministry of Defense using an improvised explosive device – have been prevented."

As the agency further confirmed, "the suspects have been detained and have confessed to their involvement."

The FSB revealed that the suspects communicated with a Ukrainian secret service operative via Telegram, during which they expressed their intent to execute the attack. "Following instructions from their handler, they retrieved an improvised explosive device from a cache, conducted reconnaissance of the target location, and planted the bomb beneath the officer’s vehicle. The explosive was subsequently discovered and safely defused by the FSB," the statement detailed.

A decision is currently pending on whether to initiate criminal proceedings against the suspects.