Four Russian teenagers have been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of planning a “terrorist” attack, ‘s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Saturday.
The FSB said the youths, all Russian citizens born between 2007 and 2008, had been planning to detonate a bomb in a crowded area in the Urals city, located about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) east of .
Officials said they had seized components for an explosive device and that investigators in the Sverdlovsk region had opened a criminal case.
Authorities: 1 suspect followed ‘neo-Nazi’ channel
According to the FSB, the unnamed detainees “shared the ideas of a terrorist organization banned in Russia and planned to carry out a terrorist act using a homemade explosive device.”
Two of the suspects are also accused of involvement in an arson attack on a Russian Interior Ministry vehicle on December 22.
A video published by Russia’s TASS state news agency purported to show one of the suspects confessing to setting the police car alight after subscribing to “neo-Nazi channels on .”
The suspect said he “read in the same channels [that] it is necessary to commit acts against the police.”
Russian domestic security has deteriorated in recent years as the state channels resources into arresting those suspected of collaborating with .
Ever since its in February 2022, Russia has been affected by a wave of arson incidents that it blames on Kyiv.
There have also been a number of deadly attacks by suspected Islamist groups, including a in March 2024, during which 145 people were killed and over 500 more injured.
mf/sms (Reuters, AFP)
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