Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the Soviet Union’s dreaded KGB, said on Thursday it had foiled a Ukrainian plot to assassinate Russian military officers and their families in Moscow using hidden bombs.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Ministry of Defense. “Four Russian citizens involved in the preparation of these attacks have been detained,” the Russian security agency said. Said,
According to the FSB, one of the detainees had purchased a bomb small enough to disguise as a portable cell phone charger, which was to be attached to a car with magnets. The second member of the conspiracy was tasked with spying on senior Russian defense officials to select targets for the operation.
Russian state television aired footage of the suspects reportedly admitting that they were recruited by Ukrainian agents to assassinate Russian military officers.
The tactics described by the FSB were similar to the bombing that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s radiation, biological and chemical defense forces, on December 17.
Kirillov, 54, was killed Along with his deputy Ilya Polikarpov by a remote-controlled bomb attached to a scooter. The bomb detonated as the two men were leaving Kirillov’s home in a residential area in southeast Moscow.
SBU security service of Ukraine on alert claimed responsibility For the attack, the Russian general was described as a “legitimate target” and a war criminal.
“Such a dishonorable end awaits everyone who kills Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable,” the SBU said.
Kirillov was under sanctions from the United Kingdom and Canada to spread “misinformation” and monitor the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine. The SBU essentially tried Kirillov in absentia the day before his assassination and found him guilty of “mass use of prohibited chemical weapons.”
The day after Kirillov’s death, Russian officials announced A 29-year-old Uzbek man was detained for “committing a terrorist act”. The suspect reportedly “revealed that he had been recruited by Ukrainian special services” during interrogation, with the Ukrainians offering him $100,000 and a European passport in exchange for his services.
Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly scolded The FSB made a “big mistake” by allowing Kirillov’s assassination, which he described as an “act of terrorism”.
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out other killings on Russian soil, but unlike the Kirillov case, Ukraine has denied those allegations. The SBU did not immediately comment on the new murder plot that the FSB claimed to have foiled on Thursday.
