Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday it had killed a Russian man accused of planning to attack a military enlistment office on orders from Ukrainian intelligence services.
Video shared by the state-run TASS news agency showed the unidentified man talking on the phone while filming a thermal power station in the city of Tver, located some 160 kilometers northwest of Moscow, but the plant’s connection to the enlistment office was not clear.
The FSB said the man opened fire on its agents when they attempted to arrest him.
“The perpetrator offered armed resistance while being apprehended and was neutralized,” the FSB said in a statement.
Photographs released by the FSB show what is said to be the slain man’s body and objects uncovered at the scene of the shootout, including an improvised explosive device and a Soviet hand grenade.
No civilians or law enforcement officials were injured in the shootout, the FSB said.
The man was described as a “recruited Russian citizen who was a member of a banned Ukrainian nationalist group.” The FSB did not identify the group by name.
Ukraine has not commented on Russia’s claims.