FSB prevents large-scale drone attack on strategic facility in Moscow Region

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has foiled a massive drone attack on a strategic facility in a residential area in the Moscow Region, the FSB’s Public Relations Office reported.

"During a counteroperation against Ukrainian security services, the FSB has prevented a terrorist attack planned by the Security Service of Ukraine against a strategic enterprise in a residential area in the Moscow Region. The attack involved the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which had been illegally brought into Russia," the FSB’s Public Relations Office said. "The special operation to foil the terrorist attack began with intelligence information about the delivery of a cargo containing weapons along the route Bratislava (Slovakia) - Siedlce (Poland) - Brest (Belarus) - the Moscow Region, arranged by the Security Service of Ukraine with the assistance of European security services," the FSB press office added.

The Security Service of Ukraine planned to remotely deploy 35 FPV drones, equipped with Canadian control systems resistant to electronic warfare, from a rented hangar located next to the targeted facility. "After the adversary launched the drones, all terrorist weapons were neutralized by the FSB special unit, which carried out the operation. The FSB conducted the operation, ensuring the safety of the targeted facility, civilians, and military personnel," the FSB emphasized.

Smuggled cargo

Earlier, FSB officers detected and began surveillance of a shipment of Spanish ceramic tiles containing 35 FPV drones disguised with combat payloads of foreign explosives. The assembly and initial configuration of the UAVs before their delivery into Russia was carried out in Kiev.

"The explosive cargo, which had been transported via foreign countries, was stored in a rented hangar located near the targeted facility. To conceal its commercial use, Ukrainian security officers ordered construction and finishing materials online for delivery to the hangar," the FSB’s Public Relations Office reported. According to the FSB, a Russian citizen recruited by the adversary for money rented the building and received the shipment.

Perpetrators and accomplices

According to the FSB, Ukrainians recruited two Moldovan citizens, Victor Pirlog, born in 1986, and Aurel Kalos, born in 1995, who had undergone specialized training, to prepare the hangar for UAV deployment. After completing their work under the supervision of their handlers, they departed Russia.

According to the FSB, the Ukrainian side recruited a former member of an ethnic organized crime group, who had earlier served a lengthy sentence for serious crimes, through a terrorist organization banned in Russia to commit the attack. In 2022, he signed a contract with the Wagner Private Military Company, and after taking part in the special military operation, he was amnestied, and in 2023, he was granted Russian citizenship.

"Following the instructions from his handlers, he assembled and activated drones, established a communication channel with foreign operators, and then left the scene, waiting at a designated location for an evacuation group that would take him to a safe house and then transport him to Ukraine to participate in hostilities against Russia," the FSB’s Public Relations Office reported. The FSB has detained him, and he has confessed to acting in the interests of Ukraine.

"An accomplice, who rented the hangar, received the hazardous cargo and placed building materials used to mask the criminals’ real objectives, resisted arrest with force and was neutralized by return fire," the FSB added.

Minors and video blogger Kyivstoner (Kievstoner)

The FSB noted that the Security Service of Ukraine also recruited minors aged 13 to 16 to perform specific tasks, including activating illegally purchased SIM cards used to control drones.

Moreover, "it has been established that Albert Victorovich Vasiliev, a Ukrainian and US citizen, born in 1991, a Ukrainian video blogger, rapper, and film actor, who uses the pseudonym ‘Kyivstoner’ (Kievstoner), was also involved in organizing the terrorist attack and coordinating the activities of accomplices under the patronage of the Security Service of Ukraine." The FSB noted that he is also involved in drug trafficking and currently resides in EU countries such as Spain and Slovakia.

Responsibility for the terrorist attack

The Investigative Department of the Russian FSB has opened and is conducting a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 205 of Russia’s Criminal Code.

The FSB recalled that, according to the note to Article 205 of Russia’s Criminal Code, an individual involved in preparing a terrorist attack is exempt from criminal liability if they assist in preventing it by promptly warning authorities or by any other means and if they have not committed any other crimes. According to Article 31 of Russia’s Criminal Code, an individual is not subject to criminal liability for a crime if they voluntarily abandon its completion.

The thwarted terrorist attack in the Moscow Region is part of an unprecedented wave of sabotage-related incidents, prepared by Ukrainian security services with the use of UAVs, but successfully prevented by the FSB. Earlier, the FSB foiled assassination attempts against two high-ranking servicemen of the Defense Ministry in the Moscow Region, and disrupted coordinated drone attacks on military airfields such as Rostov-Tsentralny in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Ukrainka in the Far Eastern Amur Region, and Shagol in the Urals Region of Chelyabinsk.