(Reuters) – Border service officers of Belarus detained a Ukrainian citizen at the Latvian border, who planned to conduct “extremist activities” in Russia, the service said on Thursday, adding that several alleged accomplices were also detained.
The guards arrested the man, who was not named, as he attempted to cross from Latvia into Belarus, which also shares a border with its close ally, Russia.
“The Ukrainian intended to go to the Russian Federation to carry out extremist activities…to destabilise the socio-political situation and organise cells of extremist structures in the interest of Ukraine,” the Belarusian State Border Committee said in a statement.
Belarus allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to use its territory as a launchpad for the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The two countries regularly hold joint military drills.
Russia plans to build a drone manufacturing plant in Belarus with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, a Russian official said on Thursday.
Drones have emerged as a key weapon for Russian and Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
