Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced a criminal case against nine people accused of preparing attacks on Russian territory. Eight suspects have been arrested and placed in pre-trial detention, while one was killed during apprehension, the FSB's public relations center reported.
According to the security service, in March Ukrainian security officials attempted to purchase fiber-optic drones capable of carrying loads of up to 20 kilograms from a Moscow enterprise using hacked accounts of Russian citizens. In June, the FSB claims, Ukraine secretly brought 35 FPV drones with explosives from European Union countries — they were to be used to attack a "strategic defense enterprise," whose name was not disclosed.
Those arrested face charges of terrorism and participation in a terrorist community. The first charge carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment.
In August, security forces detained a foreigner in the Murmansk region who, according to investigators, had been cooperating with the Ukrainian side since 2023 and then came to Moscow to "reconnoiter targets" — railway trains carrying petroleum products and administrative buildings. From the capital he traveled to Murmansk and planned to cross the border with Norway, but was detained by the FSB border service.
In an interrogation video published by TASS, the detained foreigner, speaking poor Russian, explained that he had sent requests "to [the territorial defense of] Ukraine and another Telegram resource" because he was a "drone expert." Based on his speech, the foreigner appears to speak with an accent characteristic of native Chinese speakers.
The FSB reported an attempted attack on a defense industry enterprise in the Moscow region in mid-July. According to security forces, the attack used FPV drones disguised as a shipment of Spanish ceramic tiles. They were delivered to Russia from Ukraine via Slovakia, Poland and Belarus. The FSB named Ukrainian rapper Kievstoner (Albert Vasilyev) as involved in organizing the attack; he denies the accusations. Security forces previously reported detaining three people in this case, with several other suspects being minors.