Man planned attack on electrical substation to spread white supremacist views, prosecutors say

WASHINGTON – A New Jersey man who authorities said was en route to Ukraine to join a volunteer combat unit was arrested in connection with an alleged attack on a U.S. electrical substation to further his racist views, the Justice Department said Thursday.

Andrew Takhistov, 18, was arrested Wednesday at Newark Liberty International Airport, where he was headed to Paris. From there, he traveled on to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, a pro-Ukrainian group fighting Russian forces, officials said.

Authorities say Takhistov began talking to the person, who he did not know was an undercover agent, in January and discussed a plan to attack a power substation. They drove together to two power substations in North Brunswick and New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Takhistov provided information on how to make Molotov cocktails, what type of clothing to wear and where to park to avoid detection, authorities said.

He also discussed various “strategies for terrorist attacks, including rocket and explosive attacks on synagogues,” and expressed a desire to bring illegal supplies into the country from Ukraine to carry out attacks that would threaten the U.S. government, a police official wrote in court documents.

A lawyer for Takhistov did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment from The Associated Press. A person listed as a relative also did not immediately respond to a message from AP.

In his conversations with the undercover agent, Takhistov espoused white supremacist views and in his posts “called for violence against black and Jewish communities, praised mass murderers, and talked about causing death and destruction on a large scale,” according to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger.

At a meeting in June, Tachistov discussed a “three-stage plan for white supremacy”: ending the war in Ukraine, invading Russia and then beginning “political activism in Europe and America through supporting Nazi parties,” the official wrote in court documents.

Takhistov “explained that rallies and protests would accomplish nothing; people were waiting for a big event, like the Oklahoma City bombing,” authorities claim. Takhistov told the undercover agent that the individual would need to hold “at least one event of serious activism” while in Ukraine, they said.

Tachistov said his “ultimate dream was to attack a synagogue with a Hamas-style rocket,” authorities said.

“We will not tolerate such alleged terrorist threats and, together with our partners, we will always be ready to track down and bring to justice anyone who attempts to commit such acts,” Sellinger said.