Inaspect the shadowy planet of anti-Putin sabotage from inside Russia

“You will get a file… from me or a colleague… with the proposed goal. The file will include [the target’s] picture, his information, his particulars, date of start, age, and an outline of him. There’ll be data on his automotive, if he has one. When you go to the goal, do not take a cellphone,” he advised his volunteers.

Foma was as soon as a part of the Russian elite, so he claims to have a singular set of contacts and fixed circulation of insider data.

He confirmed Mamon on his laptop computer how he mapped army targets.

“This reveals a database… the placement of storage warehouses, and army items. Where generals reside… Where the pilots of strategic bombers who shell Ukraine reside.

“In order to interrupt the system, it’s essential to perceive the way it works. Then you possibly can goal for his or her weak factors.”

He stated there have been about “three dozen” folks in his community cut up between Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, with the contingent outdoors Russia offering logistical help, equivalent to monitoring targets’ digital footprints.

Foma harassed that the GUR suggests the targets to be surveilled, however that he and his crew verify for themselves that these people must be thought-about army criminals.

“As a rule… we additionally verify the info [on that person]… Only after that we are saying whether or not we work or not.”

But he argued that his crew’s actions have been justified.

“I need individuals who do horrible issues on behalf of Putin and Russia in Ukraine… to grasp that they’re going to should pay for it. I need them to get scared.”

Foma harassed that he solely handed on intelligence to the Ukrainians, and his community didn’t perform any assassinations themselves.

Of the assassination of Gen Sarvarov, killed in December 2025, he later texted Mamon to say: “Keeping monitor of him took fairly an effort. He lived alternately along with his mistress and his colleague. Covered his tracks and continually modified his schedule.”

But Foma didn’t share any plans with Mamon and the BBC prematurely.

Ivan, nevertheless, was tight-lipped concerning the work he had been concerned with, even after the occasion.

Foma did his personal digging on Ivan.

After checking along with his army intelligence contacts in each Ukraine and Russia, he thought it seemingly that Ivan had been concerned in a plan to strike Russia’s largest military drone factory at Yelabuga in June last year, external. One individual was reported to have been killed within the incident.

Ivan harassed that the goal is at all times to attempt to keep away from harming civilians.

Operations have clearly been dangerous for Ivan too.

“The most severe case was when my automotive was stopped for inspection and I had the handmade explosives on me. The danger was very excessive – nevertheless as you possibly can see, I used to be not detected,” he stated.

To mitigate the chance of being compromised, “there is no such thing as a clear construction” to the work, he stated, including he had by no means met and didn’t know the identification of others he had been working alongside.

Foma has the identical rule for his operatives.

“As quickly as you begin gathering folks in teams, usually chats… leaving a mark on the web, with a excessive chance this entire group shall be shortly detained or destroyed,” he stated.

Ivan harassed there have been few folks left in Russia appropriate for this type of work.

“Most of the ideological folks have both left the nation or are already behind bars,” he stated.

Many Russians concerned in sabotage work on their native soil are subsequently both oblivious – for instance lorry drivers unaware that their cargoes have been compromised – or are people who’ve been paid, the BBC understands.

Ivan, however, says he’s doing this work for ideological causes – he was once a member of the political opposition. As such, his actions could be anticipated to be monitored intently by the Russian authorities.

So it was a shock that he managed to regularly depart Russia and return.