Illustrative image (Video screen grab/ Russian Federal Security Service/TASS)
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on July 14 that it had foiled a massive drone attack on a strategic facility in a residential area of the Moscow Region.
“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 said in a statement.
According to the statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) planned to remotely deploy 35 first-person view (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 said.
Earlier, FSB officers had detected and begun surveillance of a shipment of Spanish ceramic tiles containing the FPV drones. The drones had been assembled and initially configured before delivery into Russia at a site in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“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 said.
According to the security service, a Russian citizen recruited by the adversary for money rented the building and received the shipment.
The FSB also revealed that Ukrainian handlers had recruited two Moldovan citizens, Victor Pirlog, born in 1986, and Aurel Kalos, born in 1995, who underwent specialized training to prepare the hangar for drone deployment. After completing their work under the supervision of their handlers, both men departed Russia.
In addition, the SBU recruited a former member of an ethnic organized crime group, who had previously served a lengthy sentence for serious crimes, through a terrorist organization banned in Russia, to carry out the attack, the security service said.
In 2022, the man had signed a contract with the Wagner Private Military Company. 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 said, adding that the man has been detained and has already 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 security service added.
The FSB further revealed that the SBU had recruited minors aged 13 to 16 to perform specific tasks, including activating illegally purchased SIM cards used to control the drones.
“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 security service said.
It noted that Vasiliev is also involved in drug trafficking and currently resides in European Union countries, including Spain and Slovakia.
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. Under that article, an individual involved in preparing a terrorist attack is exempt from criminal liability if they help prevent it by promptly warning authorities or by other means, provided they have not committed any other crime.
The thwarted attack in Moscow is part of a series of drone plots that Russian security forces say were prepared by Ukrainian security services and successfully prevented.
Over the past week, the FSB says it has foiled assassination attempts against two high-ranking Defense Ministry servicemen in Moscow, and disrupted coordinated drone attacks on military airfields, including Rostov-Tsentralny in Rostov-on-Don, Ukrainka in the Amur Region, and Shagol in Chelyabinsk.
All of these plots reportedly follow a pattern similar to Ukraine’s attack on Russian strategic aviation bases last year, which became known as Operation Spider Web. This patter is, however, no longer working.
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