Russia’s FSB has announced that it has arrested Ukrainian “saboteurs” who were targeting nuclear power plants

Russia’s FSB security service announced today that it had arrested “saboteurs” linked to Ukrainian intelligence who were planning attacks aimed at disrupting the operation of Russian nuclear power plants.

“A group of saboteurs of the Ukrainian intelligence service (…) tried to blow up about thirty power lines of the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear power plants” in the northwestern part of the country, in early May, the FSB notes in its statement.

“According to the idea of ​​the Ukrainian secret services, this would lead to the shutdown of nuclear reactors, disrupt the normal operation of nuclear plants and cause significant damage to Russia’s economy and reputation,” according to the same source.

The saboteurs “managed to blow up the high-voltage line pylon and lay mines at the base of four other high-voltage lines of the Leningrad nuclear power plant,” located in the St. Petersburg region, the FSB said.

Explosive devices they were also placed near seven pylons of high-voltage lines connected to the Kalinin nuclear power plant, he noted.

Two “Ukrainian citizens, Alexander Maistruk, born in 1978 (…) and Eduard Ushatenko, born in 1974” were arrested in connection with these attacks and may face up to twenty years in prison, the statement said. FSB.

Arrest warrant it was issued for a third man, Yuri Kitschak, a Russian-Ukrainian born in 1963, according to the same source.

“Two Russian accomplices of the saboteurs were identified and arrested,” according to the FSB, on suspicion of providing communications and vehicles with fake license plates.

The Russian secret services they also confiscated during the arrest of the “saboteurs” 36.5 kg of explosives and approximately 60 detonators, according to the announcement.

At the beginning of the month, a few days before the celebration of “Victory Day” over Nazi German troops in Russia, the country faced a series of attacks and sabotagenotably the derailment of two freight trains and an oil depot fire caused by a drone attack.

Russian authorities also announced in early May that a high-voltage power line had been damaged in the St. Petersburg area, without elaborating on when the incident occurred.