FSB Detains Mariupol Resident for Alleged Terror Plot in DPR Court

MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. Officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained a resident of the city of Mariupol for an attempt to execute a terrorist attack inside a district court building in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the agency said in a statement.

"The Federal Security Service disrupted the criminal activity of a Russian national who planned to carry out a terrorist attack in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the statement reads.

According to the FSB, the Mariupol resident contacted a Ukrainian intelligence officer on Telegram and was instructed to retrieve an improvised explosive device from a previously established cache, which he was supposed to detonate inside the administration building of a district court. "To carry out the explosion at the handler's order, the suspect arrived at the building where he was detained by FSB officers," the security service reported.

The investigation department of the FSB in the Donetsk People’s Republic has opened criminal cases under Article 275 ("High treason"), Articles 30.3 and 205.2 ("Preparations for a terrorist attack"), and Article 222.1.3 ("Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transport, or carrying of explosives or explosive devices") of the Russian Criminal Code. He has been taken into custody by court order.

"Russia’s FSB warns that Ukrainian intelligence agencies continue to actively search for potential attackers and saboteurs on the Internet, including social media and messaging apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp (owned by Meta, which is designated as extremist and banned in Russia), in order to inflict damage on our country. Everyone who agrees to assist the enemy will be identified and prosecuted, facing sentences up to life imprisonment," the FSB stressed.