Security forces reported preventing a terrorist attack in Krasnodar.
A Krasnodar resident suspected of plotting to set fire to a railway relay cabinet has been taken into custody. Security forces supported their theory of treason and preparation for a terrorist attack with a video recording of the detainee's confession.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," arson attacks on railway equipment have repeatedly occurred in southern Russia since the start of the military operation in Ukraine. In March 2025, security forces reported the arrest of three teenagers for setting relay and battery cabinets on the railway near Krasnodar.
The detained Krasnodar resident has been charged with treason and terrorism
The FSB reported the arrest of the Krasnodar resident today on its website. According to the FSB, the city resident was recruited by a representative of a Ukrainian terrorist organization banned in Russia and, on his instructions, planned to set fire to "one of the railway infrastructure power supply facilities" using homemade incendiary devices.
"Furthermore, the perpetrator disseminated deliberately false information online regarding Russian military personnel participating in the special military operation zone, with the aim of discrediting them, and also published calls on the Telegram messenger to finance an illegal armed group operating under the patronage of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," the FSB stated.
A preventive measure in the form of detention has been chosen.
The case is being investigated under articles on treason, preparation for a terrorist attack, participation in the activities of a terrorist organization, discrediting the army, and calls for activities against state security. The detainee faces up to life imprisonment.
"By court decision, the detainee has been remanded in custody," the agency reported.
Security agency releases video of detainee's confession
Video footage of the arrest and confession, prepared by the FSB Public Relations Center, was published today by the state news agency TASS.
The video shows two armed FSB officers in camouflage uniforms leading the detainee, his arms pinned behind his back, past garages and into a car. All three are silent, although there is sound in the video.
In the next part of the edited video, the detainee is led along the sidewalk of a city street and into a building. A sign for the regional FSB office's reception area is visible by the door.
Then the security forces showed the detainee being led down the hallway, his hands still held behind his back. The video then shows a man sitting in front of the camera. His face is blurred out in the video. The man seamlessly recites the confession, the wording of which (in particular, the full official name of the security agency) suggests that the text was prepared by security forces.
He didn't have time to set fire to the relay cabinet, as he was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory.
"I proactively contacted a representative of a terrorist organization on the Telegram messenger, after which he instructed me to set fire to relay cabinets on the railway within the city limits of Krasnodar, as well as instructions on how to carry out the arson. Then I prepared a bottle with a Molotov cocktail and buried it near my home. I didn't have time to set fire to the relay cabinet, as I was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory," the detainee says in the video.
Courts sentence those accused of arson to lengthy prison terms.
As a reminder, arson Security forces regard the sabotage of railway equipment as acts of terrorism and sabotage, and the defendants receive lengthy prison sentences. For example, in April, the Krasnodar Regional Court sentenced Daniil Khizhnyak, a resident of the Seversky District, to 12.5 years in prison for setting fire to a railway relay cabinet.
At the end of December 2025, the court sentenced four residents of Kuban to lengthy prison terms under the sabotage charge—also for setting fire to a relay cabinet.
In February 2025, a court found Krasnodar resident Eduard Gladkikh guilty of arson of railway infrastructure and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Earlier, 19-year-old Krasnodar resident Ilya Mironichev, arrested in May 2023 while setting fire to a railway relay cabinet, was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.
The investigator's theories about the motives for the arson of relay cabinets in Kuban appear unconvincing, and such cases often show signs of falsification, human rights activists noted, commenting on Mironichev's sentence. The relay cabinet is an important part of the infrastructure, so sabotage cannot be ruled out, countered a former Ministry of Internal Affairs employee.
Criminal cases often feature a typical framing: allegedly "unidentified individuals" force people to film arson and then send them to the "customer." This narrative in a large number of criminal cases suggests that investigators have found a simple way to prove crimes, noted legal scholar Roman Melnichenko.