FSB detains Russian woman over Ukraine-backed plot to attack military airfield

MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Russian woman suspected of preparing a drone attack on a military airfield on orders from the Security Service of Ukraine, the FSB said in a statement.

"The Federal Security Service in the Voronezh Region has foiled a large-scale act of sabotage and terrorism orchestrated by the Security Service of Ukraine, which planned to attack the Russian Defense Ministry’s Baltimor military airfield with short-range drones," the statement reads.

Law enforcement operations made it possible to expose and disrupt the illegal activities of a Russian woman who had been recruited by a Ukrainian intelligence officer during a trip to Ukraine in 2022. "Acting on instructions from her handler, she traveled to Voronezh and rented a garage, where she planned to assemble and launch drones meant to be used to destroy infrastructure and aircraft, as well as kill military airfield staff," the FSB said. The drones were supposed to be operated remotely by personnel based in Ukraine.

According to the FSB, the woman retrieved nine drones equipped with explosive devices, along with drone control equipment, from previously established caches and took them to the garage. Each drone carried 500 grams of foreign-made explosives.

"FSB officers responded immediately after receiving intel, promptly detaining the accomplice of Ukrainian intelligence agencies and preventing the act of sabotage before it was carried out, thus containing the potential consequences of the Kiev regime’s actions against the military facility," the agency stressed.

The suspect has been taken into custody. "Efforts are ongoing to establish all circumstances of the crime and identify all those involved," the FSB added.