The Russian security services thwarted an attack on a military hospital in Crimea, according to a statement issued by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on Wednesday. According to the statement, officers captured a suspect and confiscated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from him.
Though the suspect’s identity has not been revealed, a video released by the FSB shows a bald, bearded, middle-aged man being escorted by officials. According to the FSB, the individual had at least two IEDs: one with nails designed to function as “killing agents” and another with “an incendiary effect.”
The video depicts what seems to be a Molotov cocktail in a glass bottle, as well as a small metal can and an unexplained device wrapped in cloth with wires protruding from it. According to the statement, the suspect intended to target the Russian Defence Ministry’s Navy Hospital in Simferopol, the Crimean capital.
The man was charged with terrorist plotting as well as illegal purchase and possession of explosives. The investigation and intelligence collection efforts are still ongoing, according to the FSB, who did not specify whether there are any other suspects in this case.
The news comes only a week after a 52-year-old Russian-Ukrainian citizen was arrested in the Crimean city of Kerch on suspicion of attempting to install an explosive device at a power system site. He has been charged with sabotage plots and risks 20 years to life in jail.
According to FSB head Alexander Bortnikov, the security services have averted 118 terrorist acts in Ukraine since Russia commenced its military action in February 2022, many of them were planned by young people and kids.
Bortnikov also warned in April that Western and Ukrainian intelligence services had launched a “aggressive brainwashing and recruitment [campaign]” to enlist Russian teenagers for sabotage, extremism, and terrorist attacks against their own country.
