MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has thwarted a sabotage attack on a gas pipeline in the North Caucasian region of Kabardino-Balkaria, the agency said in a statement.

"In Kabardino-Balkaria, the illegal activities of a Russian national born in 1986 were exposed; he was involved in preparations for an act of sabotage upon orders from Ukrainian intelligence agencies," the statement reads.

According to the FSB, the man, a native of Ukraine’s Chernigov Region, established contact with a Ukrainian Security Service officer while in Ukraine in 2024. "In 2025, upon instructions from his handler, he traveled to Russia to prepare and carry out an act of sabotage and terrorism against critical infrastructure – a gas pipeline in the Maisky District of Kabardino-Balkaria," the FSB said.

FSB officers detained the man when he tried to take an improvised explosive device out of a cache.