Russia’s FSB detains suspect over planned gas pipeline attack

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says it has foiled an attempted act of sabotage targeting a gas pipeline in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

The FSB said a 40-year-old Russian man had been detained while allegedly preparing the attack on the instructions of Ukrainian special services, Caliber.Az reports per Russian media.

According to the FSB’s Public Relations Centre, the man was born in 1986 and originally came from Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.

The agency said he established contact with a representative of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) via Telegram while in Ukraine in 2024.

It said that in 2025 he entered Russia as part of a humanitarian exchange, allegedly on the instructions of his handler, to prepare and carry out sabotage at a gas pipeline in the Maisky district of Kabardino-Balkaria.

The FSB said its officers detained the suspect as he attempted to retrieve a homemade explosive device from a cache. It said the device was intended for the planned sabotage.

By Aghakazim Guliyev