2024-07-26 05:25:25
The group of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agency included 19 people who lived in Ivanofrankivsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions, as well as in the city of Zaporizhia.
“The organizer of the enemy cell and his accomplice” were arrested.
“The criminals operated as part of a criminal group, and its activities were remotely coordinated by employees of the Russian special service,” the SBU said.
The group’s targets were “shopping centers, gas stations, pharmacies and markets in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States”, and its members recruited “candidates for arson attacks on civilian objects” for money.
According to the SBU, it was planned to send these people to European Union (EU) countries using fake documents issued in the name of third parties.
The attackers also planned to film the arson attacks and use these recordings “to prepare special information operations aimed at undermining the socio-political situation in the EU,” the SBU said.
In recent months, Western intelligence services have warned of a large-scale Russian sabotage campaign in countries supporting Ukraine.
Among other things, as CNN reported, agents hired by Russia planned arson and other attacks on Western military bases, as well as tried to destabilize the situation in Western countries and influence public sentiment.
The ultimate goal of these operations, as indicated by NATO representatives, is to weaken Europe’s belief that Ukraine should be helped.
2024-07-26 05:25:25