Kiev tried to use scam victim as suicide bomber – FSB

A Russian woman was allegedly tricked into sending $37,000 to the Ukrainian security services before being dragged into a terror plot

Ukrainian operatives allegedly tricked a Russian woman into debt before attempting to use her in a suicide bomb plot, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday.

The woman, a 54-year-old resident of Volgograd Region, was reportedly targeted by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), which initially posed as the Russian FSB. According to investigators, she was told that a person with power of attorney over her affairs had taken out a loan in her name and donated part of the funds to the Ukrainian military, exposing her to possible treason charges.

The woman was then given instructions on how to avoid consequences, involving taking out more loans and transferring the money to accounts controlled by Kiev-linked scammers, leaving her about $37,000 in debt. Later, she agreed to act as a courier for people she believed were FSB officers, authorities said.

She traveled to Crimea, where she was handed a Christian icon with a hidden explosive device inside its frame. Investigators said she was told to bring it to an FSB office in Sevastopol. In an interview with Russian authorities, she said her handler had stayed in contact with her by video during the delivery.

The plot was apparently foiled by security measures that blocked the woman from sending an encrypted message, which investigators said would have triggered an explosion and likely killed her along with people at the checkpoint.

Russian officials have accused Ukrainian special services of using unwitting suicide bombers in several previous high-profile incidents, including the October 2022 Crimean Bridge attack that killed the hired driver of a truck rigged with explosives, the February assassination of businessman Armen Sarkisyan in Moscow, and the May killing of city official Zaur Gurtsiev in Stavropol.

According to Moscow, Ukraine is increasingly resorting to terrorist tactics as its forces struggle on the battlefield.

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