A Russian official faces 25 years in prison after withdrawing £885 allegedly ‘to assist Ukraine stage a wartime sabotage attack’.
Viktoria Shinkaruk, a 28-year-old former state inspector in the border Belgorod region, is accused of dead-dropping most of the cash in a supermarket bin.
It was supposedly ‘for use by terrorists’ in an alleged bombing campaign, authorities claim.
Denying the charge, Shinkaruk claims she withdrew the money at the request of her husband, Evgeny Kisel, who had fled to relatives in Ukraine.
He had previously escaped house arrest, fearing 10 years behind bars on drug charges, MailOnline reported.
Shinkaruk said she earned a small commission for the withdrawal but had no knowledge of its purpose or any intention for its use in terrorism.
One friend, Sergei, claimed her husband, 35, had brainwashed her into thinking the money would help him avoid a criminal case.
He said: ‘She was a fool, and just wanted to help. Now she can lose her youth, the opportunity to start a family.’
A male relative said: ‘She would not have deliberately gone against Russia, I am sure.
‘She is a calm, level-headed person, not crazy. I think her husband set her up with the transfer of the money. She simply believed his words.
‘They have been married for about six years. He is still her husband.’
A male friend said: ‘I don’t believe that she could do anything against the country.
‘She is a really smart girl, very attractive, during all the time we talked, I never heard her make any dubious statements. She loves our country.’
Shinkaruk’s cash withdrawal pales in comparison to the £3,300 allegedly withdrawn by co-accused Alexander Kholodkov – also at her husband’s request – before dropping it in the same bin in Belgorod.
He is also alleged to have ‘moved explosive devices to hiding places’.
But she still faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted at a Moscow military court under Russia’s new terrorism laws.
Law enforcement claimed she ‘took part in a terrorist community with the aim of carrying out a terrorist attack’, state news agency TASS reported.
Authorities claim the money was destined for members of a group so they could carry out a bomb attack in the first months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Together, Shinkaruk and Kholodkov are accused of illegal trafficking in explosives, smuggling of strategically important goods and resources, conspiring with a group to plan an attack, and preparing to manufacture improvised explosives.
As reported by TASS: ‘They used the Signal and Telegram messenger apps to communicate with handlers from Ukraine.
‘Following their instructions, Kholodkov placed explosives and cash needed to carry out a terrorist attack in hiding places.’
But authorities have been unable to identify the alleged saboteurs and handlers in the plot, nor its target, despite two years of investigations.
Shinkaruk has spent the last 22 months awaiting trial in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where Kremlin critics Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko were previously held.
Both were targets for Russian assassination missions on British soil, which Skripal survived.
Former US marine Paul Whelan was also locked up there prior to being released in a prisoner swap on August 1.
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