Russian authorities announced on Wednesday that they had arrested three people during an operation in the small Muslim-majority republic of Ingushetia in the Caucasus, on charges of preparing to attack a church in the town of Sonya.

The Russian Regional Investigative Committee said in a statement that “the suspects were interrogated and a criminal investigation was opened against them,” noting that they are residents of the town.

A terrorist organization

She said that these “three Russian citizens, members of an international terrorist organization banned on the territory of Russia, were specifically preparing for an attack against the Church of the Protection of the Virgin Mary in the town of Sonya,” near the city of Vladikavkaz.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted an informed source as saying that the detainees were members of ISIS, and the Russian state television channel, Vesti, published a video clip showing three men lined up in front of a wall, surrounded by members of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

During a series of operations, the Regional Investigation Committee said that the police also found “explosive devices” on three other individuals who were arrested on charges of “illegal possession of explosives.” The committee did not determine a direct link between the two cases.

Charts

Russia announces from time to time thwarting plans to carry out attacks launched by cells suspected of belonging to extremist groups, and although the influence of ISIS, which Moscow is fighting in Syria, is limited within the country, attacks have increased in recent months in light of the presence of Russian forces. Inside Ukraine.

On August 23, at least three prison employees and four attackers were killed during a hostage-taking operation in a prison in the Volgograd region (southwest) that appeared to bear the hallmarks of ISIS.

"ISIS"

During the end of last June, Russia witnessed other attacks in Dagestan, another region within the Caucasus, against Orthodox churches and a Jewish synagogue, in which 20 people were killed.

At the end of last March, gunmen killed 145 people inside the Crocus Concert Hall on the outskirts of Moscow, and it was classified as the worst attack on Russian soil in about 20 years.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Russian authorities pointed the finger at Ukraine, without providing evidence.