Russia Confirms Multiple Plots By Ukranian Forces To Assassinate Senior Officers In Moscow
The FSB alleged that bombs disguised as power banks and document folders were part of the planned attacks.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Thursday that it had foiled multiple assassination plots by Ukrainian intelligence targeting senior Russian military officers and their families in Moscow.
The FSB alleged that bombs disguised as power banks and document folders were part of the planned attacks.
The agency reported detaining four Russian nationals suspected of aiding the plots.
These developments come in the wake of a December 17 attack that killed Lieutenant General Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops.
The high-ranking officer was targeted with a bomb attached to an electric scooter outside his Moscow apartment.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has reportedly confirmed involvement in Kirillov’s killing, which Russia labelled a “terrorist attack.”
However, Moscow has since vowed to retaliate against Kyiv.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Defence Ministry,” the FSB stated, calling the efforts part of ongoing wartime hostilities that began in February 2022.
Reuters reports that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, has accused Ukrainian intelligence of recruiting Russian citizens for targeted attacks.
According to the FSB, one man retrieved a bomb disguised as a portable charger in Moscow, intending to attach it with magnets to the car of a senior Defence Ministry official.
Another recruit was allegedly assigned to scout high-ranking defence officials, with one plan involving a bomb hidden in a document folder.
The FSB stated: “An explosive device disguised as a portable charger (power bank), equipped with magnets, was to be placed under the car of a senior official in the Russian Defence Ministry.”
The exact timing of the alleged attacks remains unclear, but one suspect reportedly retrieved a bomb on December 23, according to the FSB.
Russian state media broadcast footage purportedly showing some suspects admitting to working with Ukrainian intelligence to carry out bombings targeting Russian defence officials.
Meanwhile, Moscow has accused Ukraine of orchestrating a series of high-profile assassinations aimed at undermining morale, claiming the West supports what it calls a “terrorist regime” in Kyiv.
Ukraine, for its part, has consistently stated that Russia’s war poses an existential threat to its sovereignty and has defended targeted operations as legitimate acts of war.
One such incident was the killing of Darya Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, in August 2022 near Moscow.
According to The New York Times, U.S. intelligence believes parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the attack, though Ukraine has denied involvement.
The U.S. reportedly admonished Ukrainian officials over Dugina’s assassination, emphasizing the risks associated with such actions.
In September SaharaReporters reported that a Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah has vowed to take revenge after blaming Israel for detonating pagers on Tuesday that killed at least eight people and wounded 2,750 others, including many of the militant group’s fighters and Iran’s envoy to Beirut.
Reuters reports that the country’s Information Minister Ziad Makary has condemned the destruction of the pagers – used by Hezbollah and others in Lebanon to communicate.
The minister described it as an “Israeli aggression”.
Hezbollah said Israel would receive “its fair punishment” for the blasts.
