FSB officers detained two residents of the Samara region in a case of sabotage at oil and gas and transport infrastructure facilities in the region, reported the FSB Public Relations Center, specifying that the detainees are father and son. A criminal case has been initiated on the illegal trafficking of explosives and explosive devices, and an investigation is also underway on charges of treason, sabotage, and involvement in a terrorist organization.
According to the investigation, the 33-year-old son went abroad in 2022, contacted a representative of Ukrainian intelligence through Telegram, and "expressed his willingness to cooperate gratuitously by preparing and committing terrorist acts and sabotage" in Russia.
He then returned home and "involved his father, who shares his anti-Russian views, in criminal activities."
From 2023 to 2025, the men committed three acts of sabotage in the Samara region and helped organize another one.
According to law enforcement, in July 2023, they blew up a main gas pipeline in the Syzran district and also assembled and transferred a homemade explosive device through a cache to other saboteurs, who used it to blow up a transformer substation at the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery.
In March and September 2024, the detainees blew up railway bridges over the Chapayevka and Samara rivers. While preparing for another bridge explosion over the Samara River, the father and son were detained, with the younger detainee pulling out a knife and inflicting several stab wounds on himself in the abdomen. The suspects confessed to the charges.
The FSB statement says that after the detention, more than 13 kilograms of explosives, components for making IEDs, and three quadcopters were found in the men's apartment and in their forest cache by law enforcement officers.