Russia said Thursday that it had detained three Ukrainian spies – adding that one had been planning a terrorist attack – as tensions spike around Ukraine’s conflict with pro-Russia separatists.
The FSB domestic intelligence agency did not say where or when it had detained the Ukrainians.
It said two of the alleged spies – a father and son – were agents of Ukraine’s SBU security service who had “traveled to Russia to collect information and take photographs and videos of strategically important enterprises and objects of transport infrastructure.”
The pair confessed to having been recruited by the SBU, the FSB said, which offered them a fee of $10,000.
The third Ukrainian, who planned to carry out an attack, “was recruited and acted on the instructions” of a top Ukrainian intelligence officer, the FSB said.
“The attack was planned to be carried out by detonating two improvised explosive devices with a total mass of 1.5 kilograms in a TNT equivalent,” the FSB said in a statement.
It did not specify where or when the attack was to take place.
The announcement comes as tensions around Ukraine’s long-simmering conflict with pro-Moscow rebels in two of its eastern regions bordering Russia have escalated in recent weeks, with Kiev’s Western allies claiming Moscow is planning to invade Ukraine this winter.
Russia denies the allegations and says Ukraine has deployed half of all its forces near the conflict zone.
The pro-Russian separatists seized the two regions in 2014 shortly after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
Kiev and its Western allies say Russia has sent troops and military equipment across the border to bolster the separatists – claims Moscow denies.
