The National Police of Ukraine detained a group of recruiters who organized arson attacks in Europe on the instructions of Russian special services.

The National Police of Ukraine reported on this.

According to the plan developed by the Russian secret services, a group of people were supposed to recruit pro-Russian residents who were later taken to the European Union with forged documents.

These people performed “tasks” in the form of arsons, for which they received a significant monetary reward.

It is confirmed that as a result of the actions of these recruiters, several commercial establishments in Poland and the Baltic States were destroyed by fire. Also, the so-called “task” included the arson of one of the humanitarian aid centers for Ukraine in Poland.

As a result of the special operation, members of the criminal group were detained in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

According to European police agencies, the arsonists included both people with Ukrainian citizenship and those with other citizenship, including European countries.

According to the police, Russian special services planned to set fire to shopping centers, warehouses, or critical infrastructure facilities to destabilize the internal situation and discredit Ukraine and its citizens on the world stage.

“On July 18, officers of the Strategic Investigations Department, the Main Investigation Department, the National Police, the SSU Counterintelligence Service, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, with the force support of the Special Police Regiment and the Tactical and operational response forces, together with the Office of the Prosecutor General, conducted 40 searches at the suspects’ residences and vehicles in six regions, where evidence was found that the members of the criminal organization were connected to representatives of the Russian special services,” the National Police of Ukraine said in a statement.

The person received payment for this work in installments: first, an advance, and the rest of the money was transferred by the curators after the arson was committed and confirmed in media publications.

To confuse law enforcement agencies and prevent them from tracking transactions, payments were made to the crypto wallets of so-called “mules,” who provided the dealers with their accounts for a small financial reward.

Militarnyi previously reported that French law enforcement officers detained a native of Donbas who was assembling explosives.