MOSCOW. Sept 26 (Interfax) - Six Russian citizens have been detained in the Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions for setting fire to railway and communication infrastructure on orders from Ukrainian security services, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, working together with the Russian Investigative Committee and the Russian Interior Ministry, has identified and detained six Russian citizens in the Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara regions for setting fire to railway and communication infrastructure. Three of them are minors, born in 2007 and 2009," the FSB public relations center said on Thursday.
Criminal cases were opened on terror attack counts, and the detainees' actions are being checked for formal elements of treason, it said.
"In totality, they are facing from 12 to 20 years in prison, or even life imprisonment," the FSB said.
The questioning yielded "the suspects' confessions and proof of their involvement in the criminal activity by Ukrainian security services for a remuneration of 10,000 to 15,000 rubles," it said.
Later on, the FSB public relations center released a video with the questioning of the detainees.
All of them said they set fire to mobile communication towers having received the assignment on Telegram.
One of the suspects said he was given guidelines on making explosives via the messenger after he set fire to a tower.
"[Guidelines were sent] for more serious projects: trains, tank cars, commercial trains," he said.
Another detainee said he was tasked with "setting fire to a plane."