MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Russian member of a national terrorist organization banned in the country who was gathering information on defense industry enterprises for Ukrainian intelligence services while posing as an employee of a transport company, the press office reported.

"The FSB, in cooperation with the Russian Investigative Committee, detained a Russian citizen born in 1975 in the Nizhny Novgorod Region. He is a member of the Artpodgotovka terrorist organization, which is banned in Russia, and was gathering intelligence on enterprises of Russia’s military-industrial complex on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence services," the press office said.

According to the FSB, "passing himself off as an employee of a logistics and transport company, he conducted reconnaissance of strategically important facilities in seven Russian regions and sent information via Telegram to the handlers of the terrorist organization with the aim of undermining the country’s national security."

The Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case under Article 205.5 of the Russian Criminal Code (Participation in the Activities of an Organization Recognized as Terrorist under Russian Law). The penalty under this article provides for punishment of up to life imprisonment, the press office recalled.

"During the investigation, the suspect confessed to conducting reconnaissance of Russian military facilities on behalf of a terrorist organization and its leader [Vyacheslav] Maltsev (designated a foreign agent - TASS)," the FSB noted, recalling that Maltsev is wanted internationally for organizing a terrorist group and planning terrorist attacks in Russia. "He has been living in France since 2018 and is cooperating with local and Ukrainian intelligence agencies," the press office added.

The FSB recalled that the Artpodgotovka terrorist organization was established in 2013 to prepare an armed uprising and seize power in Russia. When the special military operation began, the organization's leaders and members, unable to carry out their criminal plans in Russia, moved to France and sided with Ukrainian terrorists, the press office stressed.