The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) exposed a network of FSB agents who were preparing an assassination attempt on President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk, Chief of the GUR Kyrylo Budanov, and other high-ranking officials.
This was reported by the SBU on its official website.
Complex actions were carried out under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office.
It is noted that the SBU counterintelligence and investigators managed to disrupt the FSB's plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other representatives of the country's top military and political leadership.
According to the SBU, the plans were to be implemented by an agent network, which was exposed by the Security Service of Ukraine with the assistance of the leadership of the State Security Department: "The network, whose activities were supervised by the FSB from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Security Department who were ‘leaking’ classified information to Russia."
The enemy was developing plans to eliminate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among the tasks of the intelligence network was to search for perpetrators among the military close to the President of Ukraine's security.
In addition to Volodymyr Zelensky the FSB also planned to eliminate the Head of the SBU Vasyl Malyuk, the Head of the GUR Kyrylo Budanov and other high-ranking officials. It is noted that the elimination of the GUR Head Kyrylo Budanov was planned to be carried out before Easter.
The plan was as follows: first, the agent would observe the movement of the protected person, and report back. Then, a missile strike was planned to be launched at the coordinates of the building where the official was supposed to be, and the people who would remain at the site of the hit were going to be attacked by a drone. The SBU writes about the next steps: "After that, the Russians planned to hit with another missile, to destroy the traces of the drone."
As for the weapons, the SBU writes that they were provided to the agent by a colonel of the SSD, "who personally brought FPV drones, charges for RPG-7, and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv." SBU officers recorded both the colonel's trips to another region of Ukraine to get drones and explosives, and conversations between the potential terrorist attacker and his FSB "supervisor".
The SBU was able to document the criminal actions of the suspects and detain them. The SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk commented on the situation as follows:
"Only a limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally controlled its course. The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift for Putin's inauguration, was in fact a failure of the Russian special services. But we must not forget that the enemy is strong and experienced, and cannot be underestimated. We will continue to work proactively to ensure that every traitor receives a deserved court sentence."
The SBU notes: "The Russian Federal Security Service has once again confirmed the status of a terrorist organization, because it was the employees of the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service who supervised the organization of the terrorist attack." They name such individuals as Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin and Alexei Kornev.
The suspects' homes were searched, and the relevant munitions and other evidence of criminal activity were found. They have now been notified of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely:
- pt. 2 Art. 111 (high treason committed under martial law);
- pt. 1 Art. 14, Part 2 Art. 258 (preparation for a terrorist act).
Detention was chosen as a measure of restraint - the suspects could face life imprisonment.
Earlier, Apostrophe reported that the United States, the United Kingdom and most EU countries will boycott Vladimir Putin's "inauguration".