Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said on April 12 that has prevented an attack on a synagogue in Moscow.

“The Russian Federal Security Service has suppressed the criminal activity of a Central Asian national who was planning to perpetrate a terrorist attack on a Jewish religious institution in Moscow at the time of a mass gathering there,” FSB said in a statement.  

The FSB also said that the man had been previously incarcerated and became radicalized during his imprisonment.  He was eventually released and came to Russia in 2023.

The suspect reportedly was surveilling the synagogue and had purchased the materials to make explosives when he was caught and arrested on April 10.

It has been already the second attempt to carry out attack on a synagogue in Moscow since early March this year.

Recall, Russian media reports said last month that the FSB prevented an attack on a synagogue in Moscow that was plotted by an Islamic State (IS) terrorist group cell.

FSB said on March 7 that the members of the organization had been planning “to commit a terrorist act against one of the Jewish religious institutions in Moscow.” 

The attackers opened fire during the attempted arrest and were "neutralized by return fire", the FSB said.