The FSB reported the detention of a Moldovan citizen in the case of an attempted attack on a serviceman in Saratov Oblast

According to official data, on September 3 in the settlement of Probuzhdeniye in the Engels district of Saratov Oblast, the suspect fired six times at the serviceman. The victim was wounded but survived; the name of this person is not being disclosed, and the FSB only specifies that this is a high-ranking serviceman.

According to unofficial data, during the attempt, Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, commander of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, was wounded. In Ukraine, Varpakhovich is considered responsible for the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv on July 8, 2024, when more than 600 patients and roughly the same number of staff were there; two people were killed then.

The FSB claims that in 2025 an employee of Ukrainian special services recruited Cociu through social media when he was looking for work in Moldova. In 2026, he underwent mine-and-explosive and firearms training in Kyiv, and in June he came to Russia to kill the serviceman.

After the attempt, Cociu was supposed to return to Moldova, but he was detained while trying to leave Russia. The FSB released video of the detention and interrogation, where Cociu says he saw an ad for a job on Instagram and after that representatives of Ukraine contacted him.

The circumstances under which these frames were recorded are unknown. In the video, Cociu is not always able to pronounce the words correctly on the first try.

Sources

• Material: meduza.io