The FSB reported the prevention of a gas pipeline explosion in Maisky.

A native of the Chernihiv region with Russian citizenship has been arrested in Kabardino-Balkaria on charges of preparing a sabotage and treason.

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation reported the disruption of plans by Ukrainian special services to blow up a gas pipeline in Kabardino-Balkaria. A 40-year-old native of Ukraine with Russian citizenship was arrested, who came to Russia "as part of a humanitarian exchange."

According to the special services, SBU officers recruited the man in 2024 while he was in Ukraine, and in 2025 sent him to the Russian Federation to prepare a sabotage on the gas pipeline in the Maisky district of Kabardino-Balkaria.

"The criminal was detained by FSB officers of Russia while attempting to retrieve an improvised explosive device from a cache, intended for committing sabotage," the statement on the agency's official website says.

In the operational video, the accused, whose face is hidden, states that he left Russia for Ukraine in 2008 "to earn money" and worked there in trade and security. After 2022, he served briefly in territorial defense, where he was "taken" from his job as a security guard, and then ended up in a deportation center, where an employee of the Ukrainian special service "forced" him to cooperate.

Upon arriving in Nalchik, he contacted his curator via Telegram. "He explained that I would have to place a package under the gas pipeline, sent the coordinates," he said.

The security forces added that the court has already placed the detainee in custody, and he is "cooperating with the investigation and providing confessions." The man is charged with articles on preparing sabotage (part 1 of article 30, part 1 of article 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), illegal possession of weapons and ammunition (part 1 of article 222 (Criminal Code) and treason (article 275 of the Criminal Code), which provide for imprisonment up to life.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in December 2025, security forces shot a resident of Nalchik, who, according to their claims, was preparing to blow up a section of the gas distribution system. "The man underwent training in one of the camps of the special operations forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after which he returned to Russia transit through third countries. When attempting to detain the saboteur, he offered armed resistance and was eliminated by return fire," the FSB stated at that time.

Additionally, in mid-February, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found Kabardino-Balkaria resident Vitaly Gayvoronsky guilty of attempting terrorism at the Nalchik railway station and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.