FSB foils deadly plot against top Russian official

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled a planned terrorist attack targeting a top Russian official. The agency said it had arrested three accomplices involved in the plot.

The attack was planned to use a video camera-shaped explosive hidden in a vase at Moscow's Troyekurovsky cemetery during a visit to the grave of the official's close relatives, the TASS news agency reported. Three accomplices, including two Russian citizens and an illegal immigrant from Central Asia, have been confirmed to have been arrested in the incident.

The FSB said Ukrainian special forces recruited the illegal immigrant from Central Asia and two Russian citizens with drug addiction and previous convictions for the attack. In addition, evidence has been found of the involvement of a person named Samso Zholodidin Kurbanovich, born in 1979 and living in Kiev, who is already a fugitive in Russia on charges of murder and illegal arms trafficking.

The report said that evidence of WhatsApp and Signal messages with a Ukrainian intelligence officer was found on the communication devices seized from the suspects, which confirms the preparation of the attack. The agency also said that the remote-controlled video camera hidden in the recovered vase was ready to be used in the explosion.

The FSB also warned that Ukrainian special services, with the help of Western intelligence agencies, are planning similar attacks in different regions of Russia. Ukrainian agents are looking for potential collaborators on various online platforms, including social media, Telegram, WhatsApp, to catch individuals and groups involved in terrorist attacks or sabotage. The FSB clarified that secret cooperation with a foreign state or organization is a serious crime under Russian law, punishable by up to life imprisonment.