Russia arrests German citizen on sabotage charges

Russian authorities have arrested a German citizen in the northwestern Kaliningrad region on charges of sabotaging energy installations, the FSB security service agency said on Wednesday.

The man, named as Nikolai Gaiduk born in 1967, “is implicated in the March 2024 explosion at a gas distribution station” in Kaliningrad, the Russian region sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, the news agencies quoted an FSB statement as saying. The man had returned to Russia “to organise acts of sabotage on local energy infrastructure”, the statement said.

A resident of Hamburg, Gaiduk was detained at a border crossing in Kaliningrad, where he had returned allegedly “to organize acts of sabotage on local energy infrastructure,” the statement said.

Half a liter of an explosive substance was seized from his car as he tried to cross into Russia, according to the FSB, with local media reporting that it was hidden in a shampoo bottle.

He is alleged to have received the explosive material and orders to carry out the attack from a Ukrainian citizen living in Hamburg, according to the FSB.

Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, there has been a spike in authorities charging people with sabotage, treason and terrorism.

Kaliningrad is a former German territory known as Koenigsberg that the Soviet Union seized after World War II, expelling its German population.