Russian Authorities Arrest Nine Over Planned Drone Attack, Espionage for Ukraine
Details of Arrests and Espionage Activities
Arrests Related to Planned Drone Attack
MOSCOW, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Russian authorities arrested eight people for planning an attack on an enterprise in the Moscow region and separately detained one foreign national for scouting out government buildings and strategic infrastructure, state news agencies reported on Friday.
The first arrests concerned eight people who were found to have been using 35 drones equipped with explosives smuggled from the European Union to attack a strategic defence enterprise in the Moscow region, the TASS state news agency said, citing Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
Espionage Activities by Foreign National
Separately, the RIA state news agency said a foreign national from an unspecified country was detained in the northwest Murmansk region, where he was planning to cross the border into Norway.
Scouting of Strategic Infrastructure
The FSB said the individual was suspected of having scouted trains carrying petroleum products at a Moscow railway station, as well as administrative buildings in the Russian capital, according to the RIA state news agency.
Involvement of Ukrainian Special Services
State agencies said all the people were working for Ukrainian special services. Russia regularly announces detentions of suspected Ukrainian agents.
Response from Ukraine
Ukraine has not yet commented on the recent detentions.
Reporting and Editorial Credits
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
