Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Monday that its agents killed four “saboteurs” who tried to cross into the western Bryansk region from Ukraine.
“FSB border guards, together with the units of Russia’s armed forces and the National Guard, thwarted an attempt to cross over the Russian state border in the Klimovsky district on Oct. 27,” the law enforcement body said.
The FSB said the four “eliminated saboteurs” had foreign-made weapons and explosive devices, as well as personal items indicating the fighters were not from Ukraine.
It made similar claims about foreign weapons in an August 2023 statement about killing four Ukrainian fighters who tried to cross into the Bryansk region through the nearby Starodubsky district.
This time, however, an FSB video shared by state-run news agencies showed a Canadian flag and a Polish-language prayer book next to the body of one of the alleged saboteurs.
Law enforcement authorities claimed a tattoo of angel wings on the body’s arm indicated that he was a member of the United States Army Rangers. It was not possible to independently verify the FSB’s claims.
Russia’s Bryansk region has been on high alert since a surprise Ukrainian incursion into the neighboring Kursk region in early August.
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