MOSCOW, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained 10 Russian citizens in five regions of the country on suspicion of carrying out sabotage and terrorist activities under threats from Ukrainian intelligence services.
According to a statement published Monday on its official website, the FSB foiled multiple sabotage attempts in Russia's Komi Republic, the Astrakhan, Vologda and Volgograd regions, as well as Krasnodar Krai, without specifying the timing of the arrests.
The FSB said that the 10 Russian citizens, acting on instructions from Ukrainian intelligence agencies, set fire to law enforcement vehicles and illegally disrupted the operations of energy and transportation facilities. "Those involved in these crimes face up to 20 years in prison."
The FSB said the detainees confessed that they had fallen victim to telecom fraud. They took out loans ranging from 300,000 to 1.6 million rubles (from 3,784 to 20,000 U.S. dollars) and transferred the funds to so-called "safe accounts." Afterward, individuals posing as Russian law enforcement officers contacted them via the Telegram messenger, inducing them to carry out sabotage activities on the pretext of not prosecuting them for financing the Ukrainian Armed Forces, claiming the acts were to test the anti-terrorism security of Russian facilities.
Since the start of this year, the FSB has issued multiple statements on foiling sabotage activities carried out in Russia under the direction of Ukrainian intelligence services.
Meanwhile, on the military front, Russia's air defense systems have shot down 17 U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, one Ukrainian Grom-2 operational-tactical missile, and 545 Ukrainian drones in the special military operation zones over the past 24 hours, the Defense Ministry said on Monday. ■
