Pro-Kremlin Propaganda Says FSB Busted Neo-Nazi Terror Plot in 9 Cities
MOSCOW—On Thursday, Russia woke up to news of alleged terrorists preparing to carry out violent attacks in nine of the country’s southern and northern cities. The Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that 16 suspects from a Ukrainian far-right neo-Nazi group known as “Maniacs. Cult of Killers” (M.K.U.) were arrested in connection with the plot.
A video of the Thursday arrest released by the FSB—the successor to the KGB—features armed special unit officers breaking into an apartment. One of the officers is heard yelling: “Down on the ground, on the ground!” With their hands behind their heads, several half-naked young men—some sporting Nazi tattoos—are shown spread out on the floor of a messy flat. In the clip, one of them admits to plotting a violent shooting spree against “non-white people and Arab nationals” on the orders of M.K.U.’s leader.
Little is known about the group and its origins. Its leader, Yegor Krasnov, is currently under arrest and on trial for five violent attacks in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. A Ukrainian newspaper reported last year that the “maniac” leader and his three friends had published a video of himself on Telegram stabbing pedestrians.