A 48-year-old Russian citizen was detained in Krasnodar region and placed in pretrial detention in a case on preparing a terrorist attack. According to the FSB, he is accused of planning the killing of a senior Defense Ministry official with the use of a drone.
The security service says that in February 2026 the defendant, who had previously lived in Ukraine, was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services. The FSB claims this was done under threat of criminal prosecution against his wife.
Investigators say the man arrived in Mineralnye Vody through Moldova and Armenia and then began preparing the attack. They allege that he rented an apartment in Moscow and from there filmed the area where the Defense Ministry officer lived.
According to the FSB, after determining the officer’s routine and learning when he was at home, the defendant was supposed to strike him at the entrance to his apartment building with an “attack-type” drone carrying explosives.
In interrogation footage published by TASS, the man says that before the killing he “had to return to Ukraine and undergo additional training,” and before that “go to Krasnodar and pick up an explosive device for the drone.”
The FSB says investigators seized an improvised explosive device containing 600 grams of explosive material, a phone with messages to a handler, as well as video cameras and camouflage gear. The agency says those items confirm preparations for the attack.
The FSB statement does not specify what the defendant had been doing before traveling to Russia. It does say, however, that in 2002 he was sentenced for theft and robbery and, after serving his sentence, moved to Dnipro.