Russia Thwarts More Ukrainian Terror Plots as Enemy Morale Declines – FSB's Alpha Group Veteran
© Sputnik / Dmitry Makeev
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There are several internal reasons why Ukrainian intelligence services have been experiencing more operational failures in Russia, Andrey Popov, a veteran of the Alpha counterterrorism unit, tells Sputnik.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) and Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) operatives are simply following old patterns and spending their budgets because they don't believe in victory, the pundit says, referring to recently thwarted attacks on Russian oil facilities and airfields.
"Intelligence, counterintelligence, and conducting special operations are, above all, creative work," Popov says. "Creativity doesn't work without strong motivation – it doesn't emerge if people lack the will."
The constant personnel reshuffles implemented by Volodymyr Zelensky to maintain his grip on power have also weakened Ukraine's intelligence services, according to the pundit.
Ukrainian operatives are now "more preoccupied with their own future – what they'll do once it all ends with Russia's victory."
This is also one of the reasons why Ukrainian agents themselves come forward to the FSB and confess, thereby preventing terrorist attacks. Similar cases involving agents of the Abwehr and the SS were also fairly common during World War II.
"People see the goals and tasks assigned to them by the GUR leadership and, recognizing their criminal nature, come to realize that their future is with Russia rather than with the criminal plans their GUR superiors expect them to carry out," Popov says.
Unlike their Ukrainian counterparts, Russian intelligence officers adapt their strategy with greater flexibility and now operate proactively, exposing enemy agents while they are still plotting attacks, the pundit concludes.
Russia has been methodically disrupting attempts by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) to sow chaos and spread terror.
Here are just some of the terrorist attacks foiled in recent months:
Most recently, Russia's FSB officers eliminated a GUR agent who was preparing a terrorist attack using an explosive device against a major energy facility in Russia's Ural federal district, the FSB revealed on July 21
A terrorist attack on an oil facility in Nyagan, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, was foiled, the FSB announced on July 15. An agent recruited by Ukraine was detained at an explosives cache
On July 14, the FSB announced the foiling of an SBU drone terrorist attack targeting a strategic facility in the Moscow region. A shipment of 35 first-person view (FPV) drones was smuggled into Russia via Slovakia and Poland, concealed as Spanish tile cargo. The UAVs were fitted with Canadian-made control systems designed to withstand electronic warfare countermeasures
On July 13, it became known that 24 FPV drones equipped with warheads and mobile ground control stations were seized by the FSB. The devices were intended by the SBU for large-scale terrorist attacks at the Ukrainka and Shagol military airfields, located in Russia's Amur and Chelyabinsk regions, respectively
A Russian national recruited by Ukraine to attack the Rostov Central military airfield voluntarily alerted the FSB, thwarting the planned terrorist attack, the Russian security service stated on July 10. The attack, involving 13 artificial intelligence-equipped FPV drones, was intended to destroy airfield infrastructure, eliminate personnel, and damage aircraft
At the beginning of the year, Russian and Belarusian intelligence services prevented a Ukrainian attempt to bring more than 500 explosive devices into Russia, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov stated on May 26
In March 2025, a Russian national recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services was detained in Pervouralsk after he retrieved explosive devices disguised as perfume sets from caches in Chelyabinsk and mailed them to Russian military personnel and officials. The shipments were seized and rendered safe by the FSB
A total of 101 crimes of a terrorist nature, including 78 terrorist attacks, have been prevented in Russia since the beginning of 2026 through May, the FSB previously stated.
