The Russian intelligence service FSB says on Saturday that it prevented Ukraine from a bomb assassination of a high-ranking Russian officer and a pro-Russian blogger, reports Reuters.
According to the FSB, a Russian citizen had come into contact with an officer of the Ukrainian defense intelligence service GUR through messages on Telegram. The Russian citizen allegedly received instructions from the Ukrainian officer to retrieve the bomb, which was hidden in a portable speaker, from a hiding place in Moscow.
Bombs hidden in power banks
The FSB has not named either the Russian officer or the blogger who are said to be the targets of the attack. GUR has not commented on Reuters’ data.
On Boxing Day, the FSB stated that it had stopped several assassination attempts on high-ranking Russian officers and their families, using bombs hidden in power banks or document folders, reports Reuters.
Top Russian general killed
On December 17, Russian General Igor Kirillov, the country’s top nuclear, chemical and biological defense chief, was killed in an explosion in Moscow. A 29-year-old man from Uzbekistan was arrested on suspicion of the murder, and according to information he is to be recruited by the Ukrainian security service SBU. An official at the SBU also stated that Ukraine was behind the murder.
– Kirillov was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target, because he gave the order to use prohibited chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military, he said then.
Ukraine maintains that targeted killings of Russian officers it considers guilty of war crimes are legitimate. Russia, on the other hand, believes that Ukrainian intelligence services are engaged in “illegal terrorism”, and accuses Ukraine of murdering civilians. Russia has also said it will take revenge for Kirillov’s murder.