Authorities in Russia’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk have detained a man they accuse of plotting to blow up a military enlistment office, state media reported Wednesday.
According to the TASS news agency, 27-year-old Yevgeny Ryapolov is suspected of planting an explosive device inside a slow cooker, which was discovered near the enlistment office on Dec. 5.
Novosibirsk’s Zheleznodorozhnyi District Court is set to rule on Ryapolov’s pre-trial detention.
Ryapolov was identified as a resident of the Novosibirsk suburb of Berdsk and is said to have a criminal record.
He is also claimed to be a member of an unidentified “banned far-right radical movement.”
Ryapolov was given a four-year jail sentence in 2017 for possession of explosives.
Russian military enlistment offices have regularly been targeted in arson attacks since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow accused Ukraine of inciting Russians to set fire to military recruitment offices, claiming that Russians were allegedly “following the so-called ‘instructions’ received by phone from Ukraine.”
