FSB stopped Ukrainian sabotage at two nuclear power plants before May 9

On the eve of the celebration of Victory Day on May 9, the Russian FSB prevented sabotage by Ukrainian special services at two nuclear power plants. About it informed press service of the department, reports TASS.

On the eve of the holiday, a sabotage and terrorist group of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (SVRU) tried to undermine more than 30 pylons of high-voltage power lines (TL) of the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear power plants, which are located in the Leningrad and Tver regions.

The press service noted that the attackers managed to undermine one pillar of the Leningrad nuclear power plant and mine four more. Also, four improvised explosive devices were planted under seven power lines of the Kalinin nuclear power plant. The Ukrainian special services hoped in this way to stop the nuclear reactors of nuclear power plants and inflict “serious economic and reputational damage to the Russian Federation,” the FSB explained.

As a result, two citizens of Ukraine were detained – Oleksandr Maistruk (pseudonym Mechanic) and Eduard Usatenko (pseudonym Max). In addition, a citizen of Ukraine and Russia, Yuriy Kishchak (pseudonym of the South Coast), has been put on the wanted list. Now he is in Belgium, the press service specified. The FSB also detained two accomplices who helped the saboteurs with vehicles and fake registration numbers. They are citizens of Ukraine.

According to the FSB, members of the DRG were recruited in September 2022 by an employee of the SVRU, Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Gorbatyuk. The detainees underwent special training in camps in the Kyiv and Nikolaev regions of Ukraine, and then illegally crossed the Russian-Belarusian border in the Pskov region, where they arrived from the territory of Ukraine in transit through Poland and Belarus.

A criminal case has been initiated against them under Part 1 of Art. 281 (sabotage) and part 1 of Art. 222.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (illegal acquisition, sale and storage of explosives or explosive devices). The maximum punishment under the first article is up to 20 years in prison, under the second – up to eight years. It is specified that the detainees are in custody, they pleaded guilty.

May 10, the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk informedthat the celebrations on the occasion of May 9 in Russia passed without incident. She noted that about 242,000 security officials were monitoring law and order. Also in the Kremlin declaredthat law enforcement agencies did not report attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack Moscow on May 9.