Donetsk, Oct 20 — DAN. The Donetsk People’s Republic State Security Ministry (MGB) has detained Mariupol resident Viktor Zaitsev whom the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hired to stage terrorist attacks in the city, MGB press service officer Mikhail Popov said on Thursday.
The MGB carried out the operation to expose and detain Zaitsev jointly with DPR police and Russia’s Interior Ministry. The man, a misfit with a criminal record, lived in the Kamensk neighborhood in Mariupol’s Ilyichevsky district.
Zaitsev said that he had been recruited by SBU officer Sergey in February 2022. He was offered 50,000-hryvnias for blowing up the City Hall in case Mariupol came under DPR and Russia’s control. After Zaitsev gave his consent, the SBU agent passed him an improvised explosive device, a remote control unit and half of the promised sum.
The bomb was found during a search of Zaitsev’s room. A five-liter plastic bottle contained the front section of an RPG-7 grenade launcher, submunition such as 7.62mm bullets and nuts, a battery and a detonator. “It was rendered harmless and destroyed, ” Popov said.
Zaitsev planned to blast the City Hall in October. He also intended to use grenades to blast pro-Russian neighbors if the situation allowed.
Criminal proceedings against the detainee were initiated under the DPR Criminal Code Article 229 (act of terror).
Report in late September said that police had detained a girl as she was trying to set off a bomb near a city polling station.*jk