The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) has announced that over 200 people, of a mixture of Russian and foreign nationalities, have been detained for running illegal simboxes since the enforcement of new laws began on September 1, 2025. The simbox operations were blamed on Ukrainian attempts to coordinate sabotage. Over 220 simboxes and more than 54,000 SIM cards were among the equipment confiscated using the new laws.
The press release from the FSB cited a few examples of the crimes committed with simboxes. These included:
- Life imprisonment for the operator of a simbox used to register a WhatsApp account connected to a Ukrainian attack on the bridge between Crimea and mainland Russia; and
- A simbox conveyed the voice traffic which coordinated a bomb attack on a Russian government building which killed two police officers.
The FSB said Russians had been paid to run the simboxes on behalf of Ukraine. The announcement concluded with a stern warning:
Таким образом, граждане России фактически становятся пособниками террористической и мошеннической деятельности иностранных спецслужб, фигурантами уголовных дел за содействие террористической деятельности и иностранным спецслужбам, организацию и участие в преступном сообществе.
Зарубежные кураторы воспринимают наших граждан как «ресурс» для финансирования диверсионно-террористической деятельности украинских спецслужб на территории Российской Федерации.
Все пособники будут установлены и понесут суровое наказание по совокупности всех совершённых преступлений и наступивших последствий.
Thus, Russian citizens effectively become accomplices to the terrorist and fraudulent activities of foreign intelligence services, and defendants in criminal cases for assisting terrorist activity and foreign intelligence services, as well as organizing and participating in a criminal organization.
Foreign curators perceive our citizens as a “resource” for funding the sabotage and terrorist activities of Ukrainian special services on the territory of the Russian Federation.
All accomplices will be identified and will be severely punished for all the crimes committed and the ensuing consequences.
The FSB shared video footage of several arrests along with simboxes and SIM cards they found. Many of the simboxes in the videos have gray cases that are similar to equipment seen during older raids by Russian law enforcement. The new video content can be watched below. A different edit by state news agency TASS of much of the same material can be seen here.
