Russian security services have stopped a plot to blow up targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) reported.

“An operation conducted on November 12 in Moscow and St. Petersburg resulted in the arrests of 10 terrorists. They had a total of four powerful IEDs in their arsenals, which were seized,” the FSB said in a statement.

The suspects of Central Asian origin were arrested in collaboration with law enforcement in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the report said.

“The suspects confessed to having contacts with leaders of the terrorist group Islamic State based in the Middle East.”

“They also identified targets of their attack, accomplices and a support base both in Russia and in other countries,” the report added.

The security service said the suspects planned a series of gun and bomb attacks in Russia’s two biggest cities, focusing on public places with large gatherings of people.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is a terrorist group based in Iraq and Syria, which has also expanded into Libya and Afghanistan. It organized several high-profile attacks in large European cities in the past two years, most notably in Paris and Brussels.

Putin: West responsible for Middle East instability and terrorism in Europe

Fighting IS is one of the key goals of Russia’s military presence in Syria, where the group is trying, among other things, to topple the elected government and impose a regime of fundamentalist Islam.