Moscow, Dec 27 (IANS): The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has thwarted multiple assassination plots coordinated by Ukrainian special services against high-ranking Russian military officials, it said in a statement.
Four Russian citizens linked to the assassination plots against the officials and their families were detained, the FSB said.
One of the citizens, recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services, arrived in Moscow in November 2024 to carry out a terrorist act by planting an explosive device disguised as a power bank under the car of a high-ranking defence official, Xinhua news agency reported.
"It has been established that a Russian citizen recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out a terrorist act arrived in Moscow from Ukraine in November 2024 under the guise of a deportee in transit through Moldova and Georgia," FSB press office said in a statement.
The FSB said another Ukrainian intelligence agent had been en route to delivering a bomb disguised as a gift to a Defense Ministry official but was apprehended before reaching the intended target.
The claims cannot be independently verified.
Another Moscow resident conducted surveillance on senior defence ministry personnel and their families. Two other Russian citizens were detained for their involvement in a plot to deliver an explosive device disguised as a folder with documents.
Criminal cases have been opened against the detainees, who were charged with the "illegal circulation of explosives and explosive devices," the "preparation of terrorist acts," and "high treason," which are offenses punishable by life imprisonment under Russian law.
Earlier on December 17, Lt General Igor Kirillov chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside his apartment in Moscow after a bomb attached to an electric scooter was detonated.
Multiple media outlets said Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) was behind the attack, citing anonymous sources. Russia's intelligence agency, the FSB, said it had detained a suspect in the killing.