Russia on Friday said that it had thwarted an alleged bomb plot against officials from its telecoms regulator as discontent grows in the country over restrictions on online activity and internet access.
Internet watchdog Roskomnadzor has enjoyed growing powers, as for months it has throttled the country’s two largest social media messengers, Telegram and WhatsApp, in an attempt to push users to use a new state-backed service, Max mentioned.
Russia has also curbed the use of VPNs and imposed rolling internet outages that affect Moscow, other major cities, and areas close to the border with Ukraine.
It has justified the blackouts as a necessary security measure against Ukrainian retaliatory drone strikes and the restrictions on messengers as a way to combat criminal activity that it says originates from Kyiv.
The FSB security agency said on Friday that a terrorist attack against Roskomnadzor’s leadership, planned to involve a car bombing with an explosive device, was prevented.
It said that during raids being carried out last week, seven supporters of far-right and neo-fascist ideology, recruited by Ukrainian special services via the Telegram messenger, were detained.”
“The leader of the terrorist group, a Moscow resident born in 2004, put up armed resistance during his arrest, using a firearm, and was neutralised,” the FSB said.
In a video released by the FSB, its officers are seen swooping on flats and unnamed young people with their faces blurred admitting to alleged participation in the plot.
The FSB said criminal cases have been opened into illegal trafficking of weapons and explosive devices and that it was mulling charges of terrorism, which carry a possible life sentence.
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