On December 26, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) announced that it had thwarted multiple assassination plots by Ukrainian intelligence agencies targeting senior Russian military officers and their families. Earlier, a senior Russian military leader was killed in a remote-controlled bomb attack.
According to the statement released by the FSB, they had “prevented a series of assassination attempts against senior military personnel of the Ministry of Defense, and four Russian citizens involved in these attacks have been detained.”
The FSB stated that these Russian citizens had been recruited by the Ukrainian intelligence agencies. One man in Moscow collected a bomb disguised as a portable charger with the intention of attaching it to the car of a senior official from the Ministry of Defense using a magnet, and then detonating it remotely.
Another Russian man was responsible for conducting surveillance on senior Russian defense officials, with one plan involving delivering a bomb disguised as a folder.
While the exact date of the planned attacks was unclear, one suspect reportedly stated that he had retrieved a bomb on December 23, according to the FSB.
Russian state television aired footage purportedly showing some of the suspects admitting to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence agencies to carry out bomb attacks on Russian Ministry of Defense officials.
The Federal Security Service of Russia is the main successor of the Soviet-era KGB.
On December 17, Major General Kirilov of the Russian Radiological, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric skateboard parked nearby as he left his apartment building for the office. Ukraine claimed responsibility for the incident.
Russia has described this as a terrorist attack carried out by Ukraine within its borders. The FSB arrested a suspect, a citizen of the Central Asian country Uzbekistan, who claimed to have been recruited by Ukrainian special forces.
Russian President Putin described Kirilov’s killing as a “serious mistake” by Russian security agencies and urged them to learn from it and improve their efficiency.
(This article referenced reports from Reuters and the Associated Press)