Russia says thwarts Ukrainian terrorist plot on gas pipeline near Moscow
Iran Press TV
Sunday, 30 November 2025 6:25 AM
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has thwarted a Ukrainian-directed attempt to destroy a major natural gas pipeline in the Moscow region.
A Russian national was detained in the Serpukhov district while attempting to plant an improvised explosive device (IED), the FSB reported on Saturday.
"It has been established that the citizen in question was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services in 2024 while in a temporary detention center for foreigners in Ukraine, where he was placed for violating immigration laws. The agent was sent to Russia under the guise of deportation after recruitment," the agency said.
This month, the suspect's handlers contacted him, instructing him to purchase a car and an electric drill. Kiev's intelligence also provided him with the coordinates of a hidden cache where he retrieved an improvised explosive device (IED) disguised as construction glue tubes, the FSB stated.
FSB operatives caught the man as he was trying to drill into the ground above the pipeline to plant the explosives.
After carrying out the planned attack, the suspect was expected to leave Russia and return to Ukraine through third countries, the FSB added.
Moscow has repeatedly said that Kiev is responsible for numerous attempts and sabotage missions targeting infrastructure across Russia during the Ukraine conflict.
Last Monday, the FSB said it eliminated two men acting on behalf of a "terrorist group and in coordination with Ukrainian special services," who tried to install a derailment device on a railroad bridge between Novoaltaysk and Biysk. The suspects were killed in a gun battle with FSB operatives.
On November 20, the FSB announced preventing yet another Ukrainian plot and said it detained a resident of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) linked to a plan to assassinate a senior officer of Russia's Ministry of Defense on instructions from Ukrainian military intelligence.
According to the FSB, the suspect had prepared to carry out a terror attack using a chemical agent to poison the unnamed high-ranking official. The plan involved delivering gift bottles of British drinks laced with a lethal toxin mixture.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has detained a DPR resident involved in plotting a terrorist attack using chemical warfare agents against a high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry officer," the agency said in its statement.
Moscow has warned that Kiev is increasingly turning to terrorist tactics as the frontline situation continues to deteriorate for Ukrainian troops.
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