Russia foils bomb plot against defence industry employee

Russian authorities have foiled an alleged terrorist attack targeting an employee of the country's defence industry in St. Petersburg, the Federal Security Service has stated.

It said a Russian citizen born in 2005 was detained on suspicion of cooperating with Ukrainian intelligence services, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

The FSB alleged that the suspect contacted a Ukrainian handler via Telegram and collected information on defence industry employees in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region in exchange for payment.

According to the agency, the suspect was later instructed to retrieve an improvised explosive device from a cache and plant it under the car of an employee at a regional defence enterprise.

The explosive device, disguised as a GPS tracker, was reportedly discovered as the suspect attempted to enter a metro station. He was detained at the scene and charged with assisting terrorist activities. A court has ordered that he remain in custody pending investigation.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov