Russia, an Italian-Russian arrested: the accusations about a freight train and the drone attack

An Italian-Russian citizen has been arrested in Russia in connection with a train derailment near Ryazan, southeast of Moscow, which authorities consider an act of sabotage blamed on Ukrainians. The announcement was made by the Interfax news agency, according to which the Italian-Russian citizen, «resident of Ryazan, born in 1988, is involved in acts of sabotage and terrorism in military and transport infrastructures in the Ryazan region».

The arrest was carried out by the FSB, the Russian internal secret service, which accuses the 35-year-old man – identified by the Moscow media as Ruslan Sidiki – of also having organized a drone attack on the Dyaghilevo military airport. The man, according to the FSB, admitted to having been recruited in February by Ukrainian intelligence in Istanbul and having subsequently received training to carry out sabotage actions in Latvia “with the direct participation of the Latvian army”. He returns to Ryazan in March. “On July 20, under instructions from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense intelligence, he manufactured explosive devices with which he equipped four drones and used them to carry out an attack on the Dyagilevo military airport,” reported the Russian services, according to which, on 11 November, «the railway line in the Ryazan region exploded while a freight train was passing, causing the derailment of 19 carriages and 15 overturns». During the investigation, components for manufacturing explosives and explosive devices, communication equipment and electronic media “containing photos and videos of the crimes committed” were seized from the suspect.