FSB Says It Foiled Plot to Bomb Stavropol Shopping Mall

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday, Nov. 13, that it had detained a man suspected of planning to bomb a shopping mall in the southwestern city of Stavropol. The agency identified the suspect only as a citizen of a Central Asian country and alleged that he belonged to an unnamed international terrorist organization banned in Russia, according to Mediazona.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The FSB said the man had pledged allegiance to the group’s leader and intended to carry out the bombing as proof of his commitment before traveling to Syria to join other members. Its account has not been independently verified. FSB releases interrogation footage The security service alleged that the suspect had surveyed the shopping center, monitored visitor numbers and acquired components for an improvised explosive device. Investigators said they recovered those materials during a search of his home, alongside communications equipment containing instructions from an alleged handler, Interfax reported. In interrogation footage released by the FSB, the detained man said someone he had met abroad instructed him to travel to Stavropol, film the shopping center and purchase items for the planned attack, according to Mediazona. The circumstances in which the statement was recorded could not be independently established. The FSB’s regional investigative department opened a criminal case on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack as part of an organized group. Neither the suspect’s name nor the shopping center was identified in the reports. Other Topics of Interest Patients were evacuated from the damaged medical facility as emergency crews responded to fires and destruction across several Ukrainian regions. Previous cases in the Stavropol region The FSB did not allege Ukrainian involvement in Friday’s announcement, unlike in several previous cases in the region. On Thursday, Russia’s Southern District Military Court sentenced Uzbek citizen Almir Aktuganov to 23 years in prison on charges including espionage, participation in a terrorist organization and preparation of terrorist attacks, Interfax reported, citing the court’s press service. The court said Aktuganov had contacted the Freedom of Russia Legion, which Russia designates as a terrorist organization, and gathered information about military and administrative sites in Stavropol. The prosecution’s allegations included preparations for attacks on government buildings. In April, the FSB announced the arrest of a German woman and a Central Asian man in an alleged bombing plot in Pyatigorsk, another city in the Stavropol region. The agency claimed the woman was carrying an explosive device intended for an attack on a law enforcement facility and accused Ukrainian authorities of directing the operation. As Kyiv Post reported at the time, Germany’s foreign ministry acknowledged the reports but declined to confirm details, while there was no immediate response from Kyiv. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.