The suspect volunteered his services to a Kiev-controlled “terrorist organization,” investigators have said
A Ukrainian attempt to assassinate a senior Russian military official has been thwarted in the Crimean Peninsula, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Thursday.
The primary suspect in the alleged plot is a 39-year-old resident of Sevastopol, the port city hosting Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, who volunteered his services to a “terrorist organization acting under Ukrainian special services’ control,” the FSB said.
Several militia groups and military units fighting for Kiev fit the description, including the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) led by neo-Nazi Denis ‘White Rex’ Kapustin. The FSB did not specify which group the suspect was affiliated with.
According to the agency, before being tasked with the murder, the man collected intelligence for Ukrainian civilian and military intelligence services.
The bomb plot was reportedly stopped after Ukrainian handlers provided information about the target and the location of a stash containing components for a remotely triggered improvised explosive device, which the agent was supposed to place under the military official’s car. The suspect now faces a life sentence for state treason.
Russian authorities have previously accused the Ukrainian government of masterminding multiple assassinations, including by coercing people through online scams to carry out attacks.
Earlier this month, the FSB reported that a suspect in a bomb plot targeting a defense plant in Sverdlovsk Region was killed remotely by his handlers during an arrest attempt – fitting a pattern of alleged Ukrainian attacks designed to eliminate either unwitting participants or willing perpetrators.
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