Planned explosion in Murmansk: FSB detained a Right Sector supporter preparing a terrorist attack

The FSB thwarted the activities of a supporter of the Ukrainian right-wing organization Right Sector, which was planning to launch an explosion at an administrative building in Murmansk. This was reported by the Center for Public Relations (DSP) of the department.

“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has suppressed the activities of a supporter of the Right Sector extremist organization, which was preparing a terrorist attack near the building of local authorities in Murmansk using an improvised explosive device,” the DSP said in a statement.

The department said that on December 10, a Russian citizen born in 1983 was detained while taking a bomb from a cache. A criminal case has been instituted against him under the article on preparation for a terrorist attack.

The FSB has repeatedly detained those involved in this radical organization. So, in April, employees of the department together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained a member of the “Right Sector” Igor Pirozhka. According to the agency, using the pseudonym Roman Chirka, he created the Khorty detachment (Greyhounds), whose task was to wage a "guerrilla war against Russia."

Igor Pirozhok acted in the Moscow region, where he arrived in 2018. He lived at various conspiratorial addresses, distributed propaganda materials from the Right Sector, trying to involve Russians in the organization’s work.

During the searches, law enforcement officers seized propaganda literature, nationalist symbols, campaign materials and other evidence of the detainee's extremist activities.

Threat from Ukrainian radicals

It should be noted that on December 10, the head of the FSB and the chairman of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC), Alexander Bortnikov, announced the ongoing attempts by radical elements from Ukraine to destabilize the situation in Crimea.

“The aspirations of the Ukrainian radical elements to destabilize the situation in Crimea remain,” he warned.

This was stated by Bortnikov during the final meeting of the NAC and the Federal Operational Headquarters (FOS), his words quoted by RIA Novosti. During the meeting, he also said that Russian law enforcement officers did not commit a single terrorist attack this year.

“This year, the downward trend in the number of terrorist crimes has continued. The coordinated actions of law enforcement agencies prevented the vast majority of terrorist attacks and prevent terrorist attacks, ”he emphasized.

In total, 50 terrorist crimes were prevented in Russia, and as a result, three were committed. Moreover, in 2018 their number was 9, while in 2013 - 218. Such crimes, in addition to the attacks themselves, include recruitment to terrorist organizations, calls for terrorism, hostage-taking and others.

So, according to the NAC, the spread of terrorist propaganda on 50 thousand pages on the Internet was suppressed, the accounts of 2 thousand suspected of involvement in terrorist activities were blocked.

In addition, during the counter-terrorist operations 32 militants were neutralized, 41 gang leaders, 241 gangsters and 606 of their accomplices were detained. In total, 78 cells of international terrorist organizations and 83 illegal workshops for the production and conversion of weapons were suppressed.

Work is also underway to prevent terrorist crimes.

“The role and responsibility of the authorities involved in the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan to Combat the Ideology of Terrorism for 2019–2023 has increased. More than 12 thousand targeted preventive measures were taken with people exposed to terrorist propaganda, about 14 thousand events with people serving sentences for committing crimes, about 35 thousand events with labor migrants, ”the NAC website says.

Despite this, the threats posed by international terrorist organizations remain, Bortnikov emphasized.

“Terrorists continue to make attempts to form conspiratorial cells aimed at committing terrorist attacks,” the head of the FSB said.

* “Right Sector” - the Ukrainian association of radical nationalist organizations, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 17.11.2014).