Belarusian security service says it disrupted attack planned from Ukraine

The KGB security service of Belarus said on Thursday that it intercepted a group of individuals who were preparing a sabotage attack against a strategic facility in neighbouring Russia. The implementation of the sabotage plan was disrupted at the preparation stage, the KGB said in a statement, claiming the plot was coordinated from neighbouring Ukraine. Belarus was to be used as a transit corridor to move drones, communication equipment and other supplies to operatives inside Russia, according to the KGB. The security agency did not identify the people arrested or say when the arrests took place. It also did not name the Russian facility allegedly targeted in the sabotage operation.

The KGB said it was coordinating with Russian law enforcement agencies to identify possible accomplices. Russia did not immediately comment on the Belarusian KGB's claims. Belarus is Russia's closest ally and allowed Russian troops to use its territory as a staging ground for the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The claims from Minsk, a regime that has served as Moscow's most reliable partner throughout its unprovoked assault on Ukraine, could not be independently verified, and Belarusian authorities have previously issued statements designed to justify their alignment with the Kremlin's war effort.