Russia’s FSB says it intercepted shipment of booby-trapped FPV goggles meant for drone operators

Source: Mediazona

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says its agents seized a shipment of FPV drone-control goggles that had been rigged with homemade explosives, recovering them from multiple regions across the country.

The FSB said an attempt had been made to send the goggles to Russian soldiers fighting in the war against Ukraine. According to the agency, Ukrainian intelligence services had installed the explosive devices, which were set to detonate when the goggles were turned on.

Investigators said representatives of Ukraine, “posing as pseudo-patriots,” used Telegram to contact representatives of Russian “humanitarian organizations and charitable foundations” and sent them the goggles through Russian Post. They also demanded thank-you videos from Russian soldiers.

A serviceman from the Volgograd region alerted authorities to the shipment, saying he had received two pairs of goggles from a volunteer and brought them to the FSB’s regional directorate for inspection on “instructions from military counterintelligence.” Investigators ultimately found bombs installed in place of the goggles’ cooling fans.

The FSB’s regional directorate for the Volgograd region opened a criminal case on charges of preparing a terrorist attack and illegally shipping and manufacturing explosives. Authorities are searching for those involved in sending the goggles.

In February 2025, Ukrainian outlets reported a similar operation by Ukrainian intelligence, which passed a shipment of Skyzone Cobra FPV goggles to Russian soldiers through volunteers. The anonymous Telegram channel Dosye Shpiona (“Spy’s Dossier”) said explosions from such goggles had blinded eight drone operators.

The video the FSB released after seizing the new shipment also shows Cobra goggles.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Why is it
important
to support
Meduza
now?Read here

Russia’s FSB says it intercepted shipment of booby-trapped FPV goggles meant for drone operators

{{ header_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}

Russia’s FSB says it intercepted shipment of booby-trapped FPV goggles meant for drone operators

{{{ alt }}}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}