Russia Arrests German Over Sabotage Plots in Kaliningrad
Moment of arrest of Nikolai Viktorovich Gaiduk, Nov. 20, 2024. X/ @ColonelBigBoss
November 20, 2024 Hour: 10:28 am
Previously, Nikolai Gaiduk also detonated an explosive device at a gas distribution station pipeline.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the detention of an individual in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad who “arrived from Poland to carry out a new act of sabotage against energy infrastructure.”
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The individual, a German citizen of Ukrainian origin, was identified as Nikolai Viktorovich Gaiduk, born in 1967, according to the official statement reported by the TASS news agency.
The FSB also accuses Gaiduk of detonating an explosive device at a gas distribution station pipeline in Kaliningrad last March. During his recent trip to Russia, security agents found 0.5 liters of liquid explosive in his vehicle.
The FSB claims that Gaiduk was tasked with carrying out an attack in Kaliningrad by a Ukrainian citizen residing in Germany. A criminal case has been opened against him for terrorism and smuggling explosives, charges that could carry a maximum sentence of 27 years in prison.
During an interrogation, excerpts of which were broadcast on Russian state television, Gaiduk confessed to his involvement in the March 2024 attack.
“A man I served with in the military contacted me… He asked if I was willing to do my part to help end the war. This happened in November 2023. I retrieved the bomb from a hiding spot. All I had to do was place it, remove the safety, and that was it,” he said.
In August, German citizen Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death in Belarus for fighting in Ukraine, returned to his country as part of the largest prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus, and Western nations since the end of the Cold War.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE