MOSCOW. March 19 (Interfax) - Russian law enforcement agencies have stopped the operations of a local unit of the MKU Ukrainian youth radical group in the Russian Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik and have detained 14 people, the press center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation together with the Investigative Committee, acting as part of a criminal case opened on a count of forming an extremist community and taking part in it, dismantled the activities of an organized unit of supporters of the Ukrainian youth radical group MKU, set up by Ukrainian citizen Ehor Krasnov, born in 2000, who uses the Ehor Yakovlev pseudonym on the Internet," the press center said in a statement shared with Interfax on Friday.
Thirteen members of the cell were detained in Gelendzhik and one in Yaroslavl, it said.
"A large amount of Nazi materials, cold weapons, communications equipment containing instructions on how to make improvised explosive devices, and firearms were seized from their places of residence," it said.
The suspects are confessing to the crimes they have been accused of, the press center said.
"According to their testimony, their unit was set up in 2019 under the ideological influence of the MKU group leader, Krasnov. Subsequently, they received instructions from him and other Ukrainian members of MKU in Kharkiv and Kyiv on how to make weapons of terror and how to stage terrorist acts, mass murders and act of violence against citizens," it said.
The unit's members prepared for the crimes "at special training sessions and practiced their skills by beating up homeless people and representatives of youth subcultures," the press center said.
"As a demonstration of their commitment to the Nazi ideology, the members of the aforementioned cell burned a copy of the Victory Banner. They sent a video of their action to MKU members in Ukraine," the press center said.