FSB says teenager detained in Russia for planning school attacks and mass killings

Russia’s Federal Security Service and the Investigative Committee announced on June 26 that a 17-year-old had been detained in Dagestan on suspicion of planning attacks on schools and mass killings of students.

The teenager created and administered online communities designated as “terrorist organizations,” the security services said. According to the Investigative Committee, he sought to recruit other teenagers to carry out school attacks and mass killings and to make false bomb threats.

The security services alleged that his activities were directed by Ukrainian intelligence. In a video released by the Investigative Committee, the teenager said employees of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) had worked alongside him to run a network of online communities and Telegram channels.

He said the targets included schools not only in Russia but also in other countries, including in Europe and the United States. During questioning, he said that in January one of the group’s members set five fires in the state of Texas, after which the group arranged the evacuation of all schools in Texas and later schools in California.

The Investigative Committee said the teenager also confirmed his involvement in organizing an attempted attack on students at a school in Domodedovo, which was thwarted.

Russian security services said that videos, photos, and recruitment materials “were produced in Kyiv.” Investigators seized an archive of correspondence with “accomplices in Russia, the United States, and European countries” from the detained teenager, who has been charged.