A German-Russian dual citizen has been arrested in Russia for allegedly attempting to sabotage a railway track, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

The man was found with a homemade “explosive device” when he was arrested in Nizhny Novgorod, 350 miles east of Moscow, Russia’s news agencies reported, citing the FSB.

The unnamed suspect, born in 2003, was also carrying “correspondence with a representative of the Ukrainian special services”, the FSB claimed.

Video of the arrest uploaded onto the Telegram messaging app showed masked and armed FSB officers bursting into an apartment before dawn and manhandling a man to the ground.

In footage showing his FSB interrogation, the suspect said that he had been recruited by Ukrainian special forces after returning to Russia in 2023 to pick up a new passport.

“I met Artem on the internet, who was a special service officer for Ukraine. He gave me a task, and I earned money,” he said.