[Regnum] Since September 1, 2025, the FSB has blocked more than 100 communication channels that Ukrainian intelligence agencies used to recruit Russians for sabotage and remote fraud. This was reported on March 2 by the FSB Public Relations Center.
The department noted that the FSB of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation were involved in this.
"Over 100 illegal communication channels used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies to recruit Russian citizens for sabotage and terrorist activities and their coordination have been uncovered and disrupted," the Center for Public Security clarified.
They added that the blocked channels were also used to widely disseminate false terrorist threats. Furthermore, criminals used the channels to commit remote fraud and other crimes.
During the investigation, more than 200 Russian and foreign citizens involved in organizing the illegal operation of SIM boxes were arrested. The defendants were also involved in topping up the balances of the SIM cards used in these boxes and illegally distributing subscriber numbers of Russian telecom operators.
Criminal cases have been opened against those detained under Articles 274.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Illegal use of a subscriber terminal for transmitting traffic or a virtual telephone exchange”), 274.4 (“Organization of activities related to the transfer of subscriber numbers in violation of the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation”), 274.5 (“Organization of activities related to the transfer of information necessary for the registration and (or) authorization of an Internet user to gain access to the functionality of an information resource”), which provide for punishment of up to six years in prison, as well as under Article 159 (“Fraud”).