Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Thursday that it had thwarted several alleged attempts by Ukrainian intelligence services to assassinate high-ranking Russian military officials and their families in Moscow. The agency stated the attacks were planned using bombs disguised as everyday items, such as power banks and document folders.
The FSB linked the plots to Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency, which it accused of orchestrating a recent assassination in Moscow. On December 17, Lieutenant General Kirillov, head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside his apartment building by a bomb attached to an electric scooter. An SBU source confirmed to Reuters that the agency was behind the attack. Moscow labeled the killing a terrorist act and vowed retaliation.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Defence Ministry,” the FSB said in a statement, adding that four Russian citizens involved in the plots had been detained. According to the FSB, the suspects were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence to carry out the attacks.
One suspect reportedly retrieved a bomb disguised as a portable charger in Moscow, intended to be attached with magnets to a senior official’s car. Another suspect was tasked with conducting reconnaissance on Russian defense officials. One planned attack involved delivering a bomb disguised as a document folder. The FSB indicated that the exact dates of the attempted attacks remain unclear, though one suspect said they had retrieved a bomb on December 23.
Russian state media broadcast footage purportedly showing the detained suspects admitting to working with Ukrainian intelligence. Moscow has accused Ukraine of orchestrating a series of high-profile assassinations within Russia to demoralize its leadership, describing Kyiv as a “terrorist regime” supported by Western nations.
The SBU has not responded to requests for comment on the FSB’s latest claims.
