A Ukrainian plot to damage a key component of Moscow’s air defense system has been thwarted, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
In a statement on Monday, the agency accused the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of organizing the operation and recruiting a man in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region to carry it out. The SBU allegedly supplied him with small drones and improvised explosive devices.
The suspect recruited another person, and the pair retrieved the equipment in Russia’s Smolensk and Kaluga regions before heading to Moscow Region, the FSB said. They were allegedly tasked with assembling the drones, fitting them with explosives and positioning them near two targets: an air defense site and an energy facility.
Russian investigators were reportedly aware of the operation in advance and intervened at a time of their choosing.
A video released by the FSB includes footage apparently recorded by a third person as equipment was retrieved from a cache and one of the drones assembled in the field, with instructions relayed live over a phone.
The agency did not identify that person, but said alerting the authorities to a planned crime could exempt an informant from criminal liability.
The two suspects, identified only as foreign nationals from the Caucasus region, face up to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges.
Moscow is among the most heavily defended parts of Russia. During the record Ukrainian drone attack on the capital on September 19–20, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said more than 1,600 drones were intercepted across defensive lines, including 450 which were approaching the city.
Kiev has previously used infiltrators in attempts to deploy short-range quadcopters carrying explosives for sabotage or targeted assassinations.