Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained 16 supporters of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi youth gang dubbed M.K.U. in nine Russian cities, the FSB said in a statement, as reported by TASS.
“The Federal Security Service and the Investigative Committee in Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Saratov, Tambov, Tyumen, Chita, Anapa, Pushchino (the Moscow region) and Pereslavl-Zalessky (the Yaroslavl region) have detained 16 supporters of the M.K.U. Ukrainian radical youth crew, involved in violent crimes, the propaganda of extremism and preparations to carry out explosions at government buildings and armed attacks on civilians,” the statement reads.
The supporters of the M.K.U. plotted to carry out mass killings, one of the detained said in a video issued by the FSB.
“There were plans to carry out mass killings in several Russian cities, including Tambov, St. Petersburg, Samara and Saratov,” the man said.
Bladed weapons, a large number of digital data storage devices and communication means were seized from the detained during searches, which contain manuals for making terrorist tools, information about past and future terror-related crimes and video reports to M.K.U. leader Yegor Krasnov, as well as correspondence with him.
“The detained confirmed during questionings that Yegor Krasnov, based in Ukraine, coordinated their criminal activities, giving then instructions and encouraging them to carry out terrorist attacks and extremism-related crimes in Russia,” the FSB said.
The group recruited new members in stages. At first, the M.K.U. leader told them to draw extremist slogans on buildings, after that they were ordered to beat homeless persons or members of youth subculture groups and later, “assault civilians and law enforcement officers with bladed weapons and attack government buildings, setting them on fire and carrying out explosions,” the FSB noted.
