The Russian Federal Safety Service (FSB) introduced on Thursday that they efficiently foiled a doubtlessly catastrophic terrorist assault orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence.
The FSB accused Kyiv of participating in what they known as “nuclear terrorism.”
Based on an official assertion launched on the FSB’s web site, a extremely skilled sabotage group meticulously planted explosives on greater than 30 essential electrical energy strains that provided power to each the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear energy vegetation.
Their goal was clear: to disrupt the conventional operations of those services and, finally, inflict extreme harm to the nuclear reactors.
This brazen act, labeled by the Russian Safety Service as “nuclear terrorism,” was deliberate to happen on Might 9, a major day for Russia because it commemorates its victory in World Struggle II, often known as the Nice Patriotic Struggle.
The selection of this symbolic date solely served to underscore the gravity of the meant assault.
The FSB revealed that the saboteurs managed to efficiently detonate one of many pillars supporting the facility strains. Subsequent to the incident, two Ukrainian people have been apprehended.
The suspects have been recognized as Aleksandr Maystruk, alias “Mechanic,” born in 1978, and Eduard Usatenko, alias “Maks,” born in 1974.
Furthermore, a joint operation with worldwide cooperation has positioned Yury Kischak, often known as “YuBK” and born in 1953, who holds each Russian and Ukrainian citizenship and is at present residing in Belgium, on the needed checklist.
In the course of the investigation, Maystruk and Usatenko confessed to being recruited by Vitaly Gorbatyuk, an officer of the Ukrainian Overseas Intelligence Service, again in 2022.
They underwent intensive coaching in specialised camps positioned within the Kyiv and Mykolaiv areas earlier than making their solution to the Russia-Belarus border through Poland, efficiently breaching it by means of unlawful means.
Moreover, the FSB recognized and apprehended two Russian residents who supplied essential assist to the saboteurs.
These accomplices aided within the provision of communication units and automobiles outfitted with counterfeit state registration plates.
The explosives utilized within the plot have been surreptitiously transported by means of a world cargo channel, traversing a route that led from the Polish metropolis of Chelm by means of the Lithuanian metropolis of Shalchininkai.
Lastly, they arrived within the Rzhevsky district of Russia’s Tver area hid inside a cargo trailer, cleverly outfitted with hid compartments.
In response to this alarming incident, a legal case has been opened, citing fees associated to “Sabotage” and “Unlawful acquisition, switch, sale, storage, transportation, switch or carrying of explosives or explosive units.”
If convicted beneath these fees, the utmost penalty for the previous offense is 20 years imprisonment, whereas the latter carries a most sentence of eight years behind bars.