An elderly woman walks past artworks depicting Russian soldiers in Moscow, 5 April 2024. Photo: EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV

Ukrainian secret services posing as Russian security forces have recruited five Russian pensioners via the messenger services WhatsApp and Telegram to kill Russian servicemen, state news agency RIA Novosti reported on Monday, citing the Federal Security Service (FSB).

The FSB said the Ukrainian secret services recruited female pensioners who had been deceived into transferring money from their accounts from the forced sale of their apartments, with the communication taking place via WhatsApp and Telegram calls.

Hoping to retrieve their money, the pensioners took part in the surveillance of Russian servicemen and even stored improvised explosive devices “camouflaged as household items”, which they were to “personally hand over to soldiers”. The detonation of the explosives would have led to the death of the recruited pensioners, the FSB added.

The FSB announcement comes amid reports of disruptions to WhatsApp and Telegram, as Russian mobile operators consider blocking calls from foreign-owned messenger services under pressure from the security services, according to sources in the Russian government cited by news channel Ostorozhno Media.

Russian users complained of difficulties making telephone calls via WhatsApp and Telegram on Monday, while a representative from the Na Svyazi digital monitoring project told independent media outlet Agentstvo that the disruptions did not seem accidental.