Law enforcement authorities arrested an 18-year-old man from East Brunswick, N.J., on Wednesday for “allegedly soliciting another individual to destroy energy facilities,” the U.S. Justice Department said.
“Andrew Takhistov was allegedly on his way to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps when we arrested him on charges of recruiting an individual to destroy an electrical substation here in the United States in order to advance his white supremacist ideology,” said Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.
Garland credited the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force for “exceptional work disrupting this dangerous plot.”
Philip Sellinger, U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, said that Takhistov allegedly made pro-Hitler posts and “encouraged violence against black and Jewish communities, praised mass shooters and discussed causing death and destruction on a large scale.
“The defendant was allegedly en route to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, which he described as specializing in assassinations, attacks on power grids and other infrastructure sabotage, so that he could act on his violent plans,” Sellinger stated.
“We will not tolerate these kinds of alleged terroristic threats, and working with our partners, we will always be ready to root out and bring to justice anyone who attempts to carry out these acts,” he added.
Takhistov, who was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport, from where he intended to fly to Ukraine via Paris, faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $125,000.
Among the messages that the defendant posted on a messaging platform, according to the complaint, are “a quote attributable to Adolf Hitler: ‘Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.’”
Also according to the complaint, Takhistov repeatedly referred in posts to Robert Bowers, the lone gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life–Or L’Simcha Synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018.
In March, the complaint alleges, Takhistov said that he “wanted to protest a university Jewish community center, but the parties decided to conduct that protest at a later date.”
And in April, he is said to have posted on a messaging platform, “May Archangel Micheal, Wotan and Allah guide the rockets unto the densest parts of Israel. I don’t want war targets; I want mass civilian targets.”
In another instance, he told an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a fellow activist “that his ultimate dream was to attack a synagogue with a Hamas-style rocket.” When the informant told Takhistov that he didn’t know how to build such a rocket, Takhistov allegedly said that he would provide instructions.
James Dennehy, Newark special agent in charge at the FBI, said, “Imagine the chaos and number of life-threatening emergencies if a large population of people in New Jersey lost power in the middle of the current heat wave.
“We allege Takhistov, who is only 18 years old, planned to travel overseas so he could learn lessons from Russians fighting in Ukraine on how to destroy power grids and other critical infrastructure,” Dennehy said. “His alleged conversations and planned actions are chilling and were inspired by racially motivated violent extremism. Disrupting all of our lives was the goal.”