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What we know about foiled terrorist attack on voting day in Donetsk

A Donetsk citizen established contact with SBU officers and voluntarily agreed to assist them in their terrorist activities, the FSB Public Relations Center said

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) officers have detained a citizen of Donetsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), who, under the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), was preparing a terrorist attack near a polling station, where people were expected to gather on voting day, the FSB Public Relations Center reported.

TASS has compiled the key information available so far.

Thwarted terrorist attack

- A Donetsk citizen established contact with SBU officers and voluntarily agreed to assist them in their terrorist activities, the FSB Public Relations Center said.

- Under the instructions of Ukrainian handlers, he retrieved 20 kilograms of explosives intended for a terrorist attack from a prearranged cache.

- Moreover, SBU officers used a drone to deliver an improvised explosive device, containing two kilograms of plastic explosives, electronic fuses, and a remote firing device board, to the suspect.

- The man put explosives and other components received from Ukrainian security officers in his personal vehicle that he was supposed to leave near a regional polling station and blow up when people were expected to gather during the election.

- The suspect could not carry out his plan, as FSB officers detained him.

Suspect’s testimony

- The perpetrator confessed to his crime.

- According to video footage published by the FSB, the man said that he had agreed to work for Kiev for a large sum of money.

- He specified that he was to receive $10,000.

- According to the suspect, it did not bother his handler that children and women could die in an explosion; on the contrary, the SBU expected a large number of casualties among civilians.

- The man said that he contacted an SBU officer via his acquaintance in Ukraine.

- The perpetrator noted that at first, the SBU officer asked him to photograph several facilities for money and then to carry out an explosion.

Investigation

- Authorities are deciding whether to open a criminal case.