Employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSS) detained 16 citizens who supposedly appeared to be supporters of a Ukrainian youth radical group that allegedly organized rallies for Alexey Navalny. The detainees, according to the FSS, are associated with a number of crimes and participated in the preparation of the administrative buildings bomb attacks.
In particular, they are accused of extremism propaganda and preparing armed attacks on citizens. This was reported by the press service of the FSS.
It is about the group "Maniacs. The Cult of Killers" (MKU in Russian) that is considered by Russian media to be a Ukrainian neo-Nazi organization.
In addition, the FSS stated that the work of the detainees was coordinated from Ukraine, namely by a certain Yehor Krasnov. According to the security service, during the detention, cold steel and data on already committed and planned crimes were seized. In particular, the detainees allegedly sent Krasnov video reports on the crimes committed.
Detentions took place in Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Saratov, Tambov, Tyumen, Chita, Anapa, Pushchino in the Moscow region and Pereslavl-Zalessky in the Yaroslavl region.
However, according to the BBC.Russia, the Russian media never mentioned the MKU group until January 2021. Upon Alexey Navalny's return from Germany in January, pro-Kremlin media began associating the organization with protests in Moscow.
In particular, the Telegram channels Rokot and Kremlin Prachka, and then the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty and the TV channel Russia-24 as well wrote that the SSU and the movement MKU were behind the rallies in the Russian capital.
Moreover, in March, the Russian media announced the arrest of persons associated with the MKU. However, a group of fact checkers StopFake denied that they had been associated with radical groups.
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