Russia arrests German national over alleged rail sabotage plot

Russia's FSB security agency said on Tuesday that a dual citizen of Germany and Russia is in custody on suspicion of planning an act of sabotage on the country's rail infrastructure, reported dpa.

The suspect is a 20-year-old man from Nizhny Novgorod, a city of over 1 million people located on the Volga River about 400 kilometres east of Moscow.

The FSB accused him of being a member of a neo-Nazi group and acting on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence services in exchange for money.

The unrealized plot allegedly involved bombing a railway track bed in Nizhny Novgorod using a home-made device.

The man confessed to his plan, the FSB said.

Russian security services have increasingly arrested foreigners on charges of allegedly planning attacks in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin has justified the invasion of Ukraine by baselessly claiming that Nazis are in power there. This means that opponents of the war in Russia are often discredited as Nazis.