The Ukrainian security service said he initially travelled to Ukraine to work as an instructor in January 2024 but gave up this work in September that year and began looking for “easy money” in pro-Kremlin online communities.
He was then recruited by an officer from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) who offered him cash in exchange for co-operation.
The Ukrainian authorities said Cutmore also received instructions from the FSB to prepare a series of terrorist attacks.
They said he was given instructions for making an improvised explosive device, as well as the coordinates of a weapons cache from which he took a Makarov pistol with two loaded magazines.
He was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) counterintelligence officers at the planning stage in October last year.
