In Kyiv, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine, together with the National Police, detained an agent of the Russian FSB who was planning to set fire to the building of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance. The SBU press service reported this.
According to the investigation, the attacker purchased a five-liter bottle of gasoline and intended to sneak onto the institute's premises in the evening. According to the instructions of the Russian curators, he was to pour gasoline on the building's window, set it on fire, and record the fire on his phone.
Russian intelligence services planned to use this video for information operations to create the impression of the alleged presence of a pro-Kremlin underground in Kyiv.
The SBU uncovered the conspiracy in time and detained the agent in a hostel near the institute, where he had stopped to observe the facility and choose a "convenient moment" for the arson.
Investigators determined that the perpetrator was a 20-year-old resident of Vinnytsia. He came to the attention of the FSB while looking for “easy money” in Telegram channels. After being recruited, the man completed a “test” task — he set fire to a Defense Forces vehicle in his city, after which he received a new task in the capital.
During the searches, a smartphone containing evidence of cooperation with Russian special services was seized from him. Investigations are ongoing.
