In the Smolensk region, three teenagers were accused of attempting a terrorist attack on the railway

A criminal case has been opened in the Smolensk region against three minor residents of the region who tried to commit a terrorist attack on the railway. This was reported on July 30 in the Telegram channel of the Investigative Department (SU) of the Investigative Committee (IC) for the region.

"The investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of Russia in the Smolensk region have opened a criminal case against three minor residents of the region. They are accused of committing a crime under Part 3 of Article 30, paragraph "a" of Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Attempted terrorist act")," the report says.

According to the investigation, in November 2025, teenagers entered into correspondence in the Telegram messenger with unidentified persons. The attackers offered them to earn $ 4 thousand, promising to transfer the reward in cryptocurrency. For this money, the defendants agreed to damage and set fire to the equipment of the traction substation of the railway power supply in the Smolensk region. The curators gave the young people the coordinates of the facility and detailed instructions.

Taking with them a monkey wrench and four containers of flammable liquid, the defendants arrived at the substation. They failed to commit arson, as they were detained by military personnel guarding railway transport facilities. Currently, the teenagers have been given a preventive measure in the form of detention.

The Investigative Committee of Russia for the Smolensk Region noted that during the investigation in May 2026, the fact of recruitment organized by one of the defendants was revealed. The investigation found that from December 2025 to January 2026, the accused tried via the Internet to persuade a 15-year-old resident of the Samara region to destroy cell towers for a reward in cryptocurrency. The teenager from the Samara region did not succumb to the provocation. According to this fact, a second criminal case has been opened against the organizer of the recruitment under the article on facilitating terrorist activities.

The staff of the Investigative Committee, together with the regional FSB, continue to conduct investigative actions and examinations to establish all the circumstances of the crime. The agency called on young people to be vigilant when communicating with strangers on social networks and instant messengers, as intruders often use them to involve citizens in committing particularly serious crimes.

On July 29, the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that a court in Primorsky Krai had sentenced two minors found guilty of committing a terrorist act at a railway facility. It was clarified that the court sentenced one of the defendants to seven years in prison, the second to six years and six months to serve his sentence in an educational colony.