FSB claims Ukraine used Russian woman in suicide bomb plot

(MENAFN) Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported Monday that Ukrainian operatives allegedly tricked a 54-year-old woman from Volgograd Region into a suicide bombing plot. According to the FSB, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) initially impersonated the FSB to convince the woman that someone with power of attorney over her affairs had taken a loan in her name and donated part to the Ukrainian military, exposing her to potential treason charges.

Investigators said she was then instructed to take out additional loans and transfer funds to accounts controlled by Ukraine-linked scammers, leaving her approximately $37,000 in debt. Later, she agreed to act as a courier for people she believed were FSB officers.

The woman traveled to Crimea and was handed a Christian icon with a hidden explosive device, instructed to deliver it to an FSB office in Sevastopol. Authorities said her handler remained in video contact during the delivery. The plot was foiled when security measures prevented her from sending an encrypted message that would have triggered the bomb.

Russian officials claim Ukraine has increasingly resorted to using unwitting individuals in terrorist plots, citing past incidents including the October 2022 Crimean Bridge attack, the February assassination of businessman Armen Sarkisyan in Moscow, and the May killing of Stavropol city official Zaur Gurtsiev. Moscow attributes these tactics to Ukraine’s battlefield struggles.

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