Explosives discovered in parcels from Germany, Russia’s FSB alleges

Russia’s Domestic Intelligence Agency, the FSB, said on Monday that it had discovered explosive material and electric detonators for possible terrorist attacks in packages from Germany and Italy in St Petersburg.

In a video released, the FSB showed explosives experts removing components hidden among shock absorbers from a German manufacturer.

The FSB said that it had thwarted a channel for spare car parts via a transport company that had brought the packages to Russia.

The agency announced that several arrests had been made, without giving details.

However, the recordings and the information provided by the FSB could not be independently verified.

The FSB said that Ukraine had directed the suspects under investigation and specifically blamed the deputy head of the presidential office in Kyiv, Roman Mashovets, for attempting to stage terrorist attacks in Russia.

Mashovets, according to his official government biography, is a military intelligence expert. From July 2014, he organised technical assistance for the Ukrainian army.

He was also one of the founders of the Ukrainian special operations forces, and he has been deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office since 2020.

Since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been sabotage attacks on the Russian rail network in order to disrupt the supply of Russian troops in Ukraine.

Prominent Russian supporters of the war and Ukrainian defectors have also been targeted.

In many cases, the involvement of Ukrainian secret services is obvious, and the services have also revealed knowledge about some of the actions.

However, the claims regularly released by the FSB about allegedly uncovered Ukrainian plans or actions cannot be verified.

Although, videos and other evidence accompanied them, they often appear staged.

The FSB said on Monday it informed European intelligence services and requested assistance in order to identify the masterminds behind acts of terrorism and sabotage in Russia.

The requests have not been answered to date.

dpa/NAN