Russia detains 4 suspects allegedly planning to assassinate top defense officials
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained four Russians who allegedly were preparing a series of terrorist attacks against high-ranking Defense Ministry officials and their families, the agency's press service said on Dec. 26.
The statement comes after the high-profile assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow on Dec. 17. Kirillov, 54, served as the head of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical, and biological defense unit. He was killed with a bomb attached to a scooter.
According to the FSB, four Russian detainees were involved in an alleged Ukrainian plot to assassinate senior military officers. They now face life imprisonment.
One of the suspects is a Russian citizen who allegedly has been living in Ukraine since 2020. In November 2024, he arrived in Moscow via Moldova and Georgia as a deportee. He is suspected to have placed an explosive device disguised as a power bank under the service car of a senior official in the Russian Defense Ministry. The driver of the official was an alleged close relative of the detainee.
Another high-ranking Russian military officer was the target of a plot involving a bomb hidden in a folder with documents. The documents were to be delivered by two Russians on the instructions of Ukrainian special services, the statement read.
The FSB also detained a resident of Moscow suspected of surveilling the home and workplace of high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry officials and their family members. The suspect allegedly sent photos and videos to his handlers in Ukrainian special services.
Improvised explosive devices and communication equipment were seized from the four detainees, the FSB claimed. The suspects have been charged with illegal trafficking in explosives, preparation for a terrorist attack, and high treason.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims.
Ukraine usually does not comment on such arrests by the Russian FSB.
Russian law enforcement agencies on Dec. 18 arrested a suspect in the Kirillov assassination, a citizen of Uzbekistan, who claimed to have been recruited by Ukrainian special services. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) previously claimed responsibility for the attack.
Chris York
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