© Sputnik / Gavriil GrigorovRussian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr Bortnikov
Western and Ukrainian intelligence services are trying to recruit Russian youth to carry out terrorist attacks against their own country, Alexander Bortnikov, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a session of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK), over which he presides, Bortnikov claimed, according to the NAK statement, that amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev,
"Ukraine and their Western sponsors' special services have launched an aggressive brainwashing and recruitment [campaign] on our citizens."One of the main tasks of Kiev and their Western backers is to target
"especially the younger generation to involve them in sabotage, terrorist and extremist activities," he added.
Since February 2022, when Moscow launched its operation against Ukraine, Russia has prevented 118 terrorist crimes being prepared by young people and minors, Bortnikov said.
The FSB director also pointed to
"a serious threat" stemming from attempts by some students, who are influenced by various
"destructive subcultures," to lay the groundwork for attacks on Russian schools and other educational institutions.
"Some of [these subcultures] are coordinated from Ukrainian territory," he added, according to the statement.
With this in mind, NAK members have discussed measures aimed to prevent terrorist activities. Such steps include awareness-building campaigns in educational institutions, with an emphasis on
"countering terrorism and neo-Nazi ideology among the youth" in former Ukrainian regions that voted to join Russia last autumn.
The meeting of the committee came after prominent military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was murdered in a blast in a St. Petersburg cafe earlier this month. The explosion, which also injured several dozen people, was caused by a statuette brought to the event by Darya Trepova, 26, who is now in police custody.
However, Russian authorities have said that the bomb plot was orchestrated by Ukrainian special services using agents collaborating with opposition figure Alexey Navalny's anti-corruption fund FBK, which was designated an extremist organization in 2021.
In late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the West had
"never hesitated to use both radicals and extremists for their own interests." "They always use against us whatever is at hand," he said at the time.
Meanwhile the Russians press on in Bakhmut. They claim to have captured about 75% of the city.
Let's look at their strategy:
Attack the electrical grid with drones and missiles. Don't destroy it, but just pick at it enough for rolling blackouts. Make the opponent use their entire stockpile of Soviet era anti-aircraft missiles, knowing the West has no replacement.
Pick the main logistics hub for the defensive line in the Donbas, and attack it. It is logical for it to be since the rail lines and highways converge there. Don't capture it, but force the Ukrainians to defend it. To send men and material to replace that which you destroyed. Drag this out as long as possible, to get them to send as many men, and as much material as possible, and then destroy them.
Then capture it and cut off the rest of the defensive line.
This is how a war of attrition is fought masterfully.
They need to study this at West Point.