An undercover FBI agent's work led to the Wednesday arrest of Andrew Takhistov, an 18-year-old who promoted white supremacist and violent ideologies online and sought to destroy a U.S. electrical substation.
In a press release on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that Takhistov was arrested for allegedly soliciting another individual, an undercover special agent, to destroy a Public Service Enterprise Group energy facility "in order to advance his white supremacist ideology."
Takhistov was arrested at Newark Liberty Airport on Wednesday and made his first court appearance on Thursday. He is currently detained. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $125,000 fine, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court in New Jersey showed that Takhistov used online messaging platforms "to communicate on racially/ethnically motivated ('RMVE')-aligned channels."
His posts, some of which are included in the complaint, "referenced Adolf Hitler, encouraged violence against Black and Jewish communities, praised mass shooters, and discussed causing death and destruction on a large scale," said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey.
Takhistov also often asked for advice about weapons and disseminated manuals on how to build homemade weapons on the online platform, according to the filing.
Takhistov began communicating with the agent, not knowing they were an FBI agent, back in January. By July, they had met in person several times. He had discussed "infrastructure sabotage," with specifics in mind, including how to leverage a pedestrian bridge with Mylar balloons, the complaint said. Takhistov had also talked more broadly about "different strategies for terrorist attacks, including rocket and explosives attacks against synagogues."
During a late-May in person meeting, Takhistov told the FBI agent that in July, he was going to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, a paramilitary group of primarily Russian citizens with "conservative views and traditional beliefs," according to the group's website. The combat forces oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin and his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Takhistov reportedly told the agent that he chose the group because it was "openly National Socialist, and, more importantly, specialized in assassinations, attacks on power grids, and other infrastructure sabotage."
At the meeting, Takhistov reportedly said that the agent "needed to carry out at least one event of serious activism and send Takhistov the news article of the event," the criminal complaint reads.
On two separate occasions in June and July, Takhistov and the agent drove to two electrical substations in North Brunswick and New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he "instructed the undercover employee on numerous aspects of how to conduct an attack on an electrical substation."
Takhistov was arrested on these allegations at the airport prior to leaving the country. The FBI is investigating the case.
Newsweek reached out to the FBI's press office and United States Attorney's Office District of New Jersey for comment via email on Friday.
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Mandy Taheri is a Newsweek reporter based in Connecticut and Brooklyn. She joined Newsweek as a reporter in 2024. She ... Read more
