MOSCOW. June 16 (Interfax) - A Russian citizen plotting to blow up a member of the Kherson regional administration on the orders from Ukrainian security services has been detained, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement released by its public relations center.
"In the Kherson region, the Russian Federal Security Service has stopped the illegal activity of a Russian citizen, born in 1974, recruited by Ukrainian security services for committing a terrorist attack on representatives of the regional authorities," the FSB said.
The suspect, "acting on the orders and under the guidance of a Ukrainian security service employee retrieved an improvised explosive device from a dead drop to blow up the vehicle of a member of the Kherson regional administration," it said.
"The perpetrator was detained while attempting to carry out his criminal plan, and 1,250 grams of a foreign-made explosive, C4, an electric detonator, and a programmable control unit were found and seized," the FSB said.
The investigative department of the FSB branch in the Kherson region opened and started investigating criminal cases on counts of terror attack plot and illegal procurement, transfer, sales, possession, transportation, sending or carrying of explosives or explosive devices. "The detainees pleaded guilty," the FSB said.
Such offenses are punishable with up to life imprisonment, it said.