FSB claims arrest of four ‘Ukrainian nationalist sympathizers’ allegedly planning terrorist act in Stavropol
The FSB has supposedly arrested four terrorism suspects in Russia’s Stavropol region, as reported by RIA Novosti. According to the FSB press release, they’re accused of preparing a terrorist act at one of the region’s “administrative objects.”
The secret service claims that the detainees were “ideological sympathizers of Ukrainian nationalist organizations.” According to the press release, FSB agents seized from them weapons, improvised explosives, and “methodological literature on organizing mass unrest.”
The FSB has also circulated a video of the suspects’ detention and searches. It contains footage of a man whose face is blurred, talking about his admiration for the Ukrainian Azov regiment, and about his plans to participate on the Ukrainian side in the event of “mass unrest” in the area. He also says that he and his accomplices had “the intent and the means for conducting an unlawful act of sabotage,” adding:
We supported and shared the ideology of the Azov regiment operating in Mariupol. We admired their actions and followed their example. We inherited their calls to killing the Russian-speaking population on the Ukrainian territory, as well as law enforcement members, the military, and the authorities of the Russian Federation. In the event of any unrest, we were going to participate on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces, supporting the unrest, since we have an organized armed group.
The FSB did not disclose the detainees’ names or their citizenship.
In the fall of 2022, the FSB has often claimed having prevented a terrorist act — including those supposedly planned by Ukrainian citizens or ordered by the Ukrainian sercret service.
The Stavropol FSB claims to have prevented two terrorist acts by Islamic State sympathizers. Such reports circulated following the murder of Daria Dugina on August 20, and the Crimean Bridge explosion on October 8.
Azov was formed as a Ukrainian volunteer battalion during the 2014 conflict in Donbas. Later, it became a regiment in Ukraine’s regular army. Russia has listed Azov as a terrorist organization whose activities are banned on Russian territory.
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