Russia's FSB has shut 100 illegal channels and arrested over 200 people in nationwide crackdown

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has shut down more than 100 illegal communication channels used by Ukrainian intelligence services to entrap Russian citizens in "sabotage and terrorist activities," the agency said in a statement on Monday. The channels were also allegedly used to distribute fake terrorist threats and commit remote fraud, it added.

Moscow has long argued that Kiev is increasingly resorting to terrorist tactics as its forces struggle on the battlefield of the Ukraine conflict.

The service has detained more than 200 Russian and foreign citizens across the country for their involvement in the illegal operation of SIM-boxes, the statement said.

A SIM-box is a piece of hardware that can hold multiple SIM cards. Its main function is to enable voice traffic termination fraud, a technology that allows international calls to be routed into a country's telecom network and disguised as local calls.

More than 220 SIM-boxes and over 54,000 SIM-cards and SIM-chips used in the criminal activity have been seized, according to the FSB.

Those detained allegedly handled top-ups, illegally distributed Russian operator numbers, offered registration services for online accounts, and received remuneration from abroad, the statement said.

Charges including fraud and terrorism have been brought against 30 individuals, with penalties ranging up to life imprisonment, it noted.

According to Russian security services, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict four years ago, Kiev's intelligence agencies have used both Telegram and WhatsApp to recruit operatives to carry out attacks inside Russia.

Kiev-backed criminals posing as Russian law enforcement officials use fraud schemes and psychological pressure to force victims into acts of sabotage, the FSB stated.

Russian authorities banned WhatsApp last year. They have also slowed down Telegram and are investigating the platform and its founder, Pavel Durov, over mass violations of Russian law and the platform's refusal to stop terrorism-related activities.