Russian law enforcement authorities have arrested eight people accused of plotting an attack on a Moscow-region defense enterprise and separately detained a foreign national for scouting government buildings and strategic infrastructure, state media reported Friday.
Russia's FSB security service claimed the group of eight was found in possession of 35 explosive-equipped drones smuggled from the European Union, which were supposed to be used in an attack on a strategic defense facility in the Moscow region.
Separately, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported that a foreign national was detained in the northwestern Murmansk region while attempting to cross the border into Norway.
According to the FSB, that individual is suspected of spying on trains carrying petroleum products at a Moscow railway station and surveilling government buildings in the Russian capital. It did not say what country the foreign national was from.
Russian authorities accused all nine individuals of operating on behalf of Ukrainian special services.
Moscow routinely announces the detention of suspected Ukrainian agents.
Ukraine has not commented on the most recent arrests.
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