Operation “Spiderweb”: Russian truckers accused of aiding attacks on airfields

Russian investigators have formally accused four truck drivers of taking part in a high-profile criminal case linked to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian military airfields.

According to court documents, the men were part of an “organised group of drivers” who transported trailers carrying drones to the locations targeted, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

The accused deny wrongdoing, claiming they were “used in the dark.”

On January 28, the Basmanny District Court in Moscow approved a prosecutor’s request to extend the pre-trial detention of Chelyabinsk-based drivers Mikhail Ryumin, 55, and Sergey Kanurin, 47. Both face charges of organising a terrorist act as part of a group, causing significant damage, under Russian criminal law.

The prosecution alleges that, no later than June 1, 2024, unidentified officials within Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) established a terrorist network to carry out attacks on Russian territory. The aim, according to investigators, was to damage Russian armed forces, instil fear among civilians, and ultimately halt Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The network reportedly recruited Ukrainian nationals Artem and Ekaterina Timofeyev, along with a man named Borisovsky, who remains at large. Targets included military facilities in Ivanovo, Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ryazan and Amur regions. The Timofeyevs allegedly organised a group of drivers, including Ryumin and Kanurin, to transport quadcopters with explosives concealed inside the roofs of prefabricated houses on trailers.

On June 1, 2025, as the trucks approached the airfields, the drones were remotely activated in an operation reportedly named “Spiderweb” by Ukrainian authorities, striking military aircraft and causing damage valued at 2 billion roubles. One driver, Vasily Pytikov, was killed in the attack. The remaining drivers maintain their innocence.

Ryumin’s lawyer described his client’s detention as unlawful, noting he suffers from two damaged spinal discs and limited mobility in one arm. Ryumin himself insisted he was unaware of the dangerous cargo and was carrying out a routine delivery. Kanurin’s defence similarly argued that he had inadvertently become involved, and that evidence showed he “simply happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The court rejected both requests for house arrest, keeping the drivers in custody until May 2026. Two further drivers’ detention extensions are due to be considered on 30 January.

If convicted, Ryumin and Kanurin face 12 to 20 years in a high-security prison. Legal experts note similarities to the case of eight defendants convicted over the 2022 Kerč Bridge bombing, who also claimed they had unknowingly transported explosives.

By Aghakazim Guliyev