Four Russian teenagers have been arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of planning a "terrorist" attack, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Saturday.

The FSB said the youths, all Russian citizens born between 2007 and 2008, had been planning to detonate a bomb in a crowded area in the Urals city, located about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) east of Moscow.

Officials said they had seized components for an explosive device and that investigators in the Sverdlovsk region had opened a criminal case.

Authorities: 1 suspect followed 'neo-Nazi' channel

According to the FSB, the unnamed detainees "shared the ideas of a terrorist organization banned in Russia and planned to carry out a terrorist act using a homemade explosive device."

Two of the suspects are also accused of involvement in an arson attack on a Russian Interior Ministry vehicle on December 22.

A video published by Russia's TASS state news agency purported to show one of the suspects confessing to setting the police car alight after subscribing to "neo-Nazi channels on Telegram."

The suspect said he "read in the same channels [that] it is necessary to commit acts against the police."

Russian domestic security has deteriorated in recent years as the state channels resources into arresting those suspected of collaborating with Ukraine.

Ever since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been affected by a wave of arson incidents that it blames on Kyiv.

There have also been a number of deadly attacks by suspected Islamist groups, including a mass shooting at a concert hall in Moscow in March 2024, during which 145 people were killed and over 500 more injured.

mf/sms (Reuters, AFP)