Eight detained for attempting to launch drone attack on strategic plant near Moscow — FSB

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Eight people were arrested for plotting a terror attack on a strategic plant outside Moscow using 35 FPV drones, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) reported.

Last month, the FSB said an attack by Ukrainian special services on a strategic defense plant in the Moscow Region, using 35 FPV drones fitted with powerful explosive devices smuggled in from the EU, was thwarted.

"The perpetrator and seven accomplices in a sabotage plot were arrested as part of criminal proceedings," the FSB said. The agency added that one of the accomplices put up armed resistance during the arrest and was neutralized.

The FSB said in July it had foiled a terrorist attack plotted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) against a strategic plant in a residential neighborhood in the Moscow Region using 35 UAVs. The drones were smuggled into Russia from Slovakia through Poland and Belarus with assistance from European special services.

The plot involved launching drones from a rented hangar prepared by two Moldovan nationals who later fled Russia. The explosive cargo was received by the attacker, who was neutralized during the arrest. According to the FSB, Ukrainian and US citizen Albert Vasiliev, a Ukrainian video blogger and rapper better known as Kievstoner, was involved in organizing the attack and coordinating accomplices.