SBU: Russian agents-colonels were preparing assassination attempt on Zelensky

7 May 2024 16:59

The SBU said that it, together with counterintelligence and the leadership of the State Protection Department, had foiled FSB plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other members of the country’s top military and political leadership. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to the SBU press service.

According to the service, there was an agent network supervised by the FSB and including two colonels of the parole service who “leaked” classified information to Russia. One of the tasks of this network was to search for perpetrators among security officials close to the president’s security detail who could take Zelenskyy hostage and subsequently kill him.

In addition to Zelenskyi, they also planned to eliminate the head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, and other high-ranking officials. Budanov, for example, was to be killed before Easter.

“The enemy’s plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent had to observe the movement of the protected person and pass information to the enemy. The coordinates of the house where the official was supposed to be were to be used to launch a missile strike. Then, they were going to attack the people who remained at the site of the attack with a drone. After that, the Russians planned to hit with another missile, including to destroy the traces of the drone,”

– the statement said.

However, the SBU gradually documented the criminal actions of the defendants and detained them, the service said.

“The agent was provided with weapons by a colonel of the UDO, who personally brought FPV drones, charges for RPG-7s, and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv. The SBU 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 service said.

At the same time, according to the SBU, it was FSB officers from the “9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service” who supervised the organisation of the future terrorist attack. The SBU even named their names: Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin and Alexei Kornev.

“In particular, in January 2022, Perlin became the curator of the ‘moles’ who were recruited before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Until then, they had been ‘supervised’ by his colleague Alexei Kornev. Thus, before the start of the full-scale war, Kornev held a series of secret meetings with the colonel of the UDO in neighbouring European countries. Funds for agents were also usually transferred abroad,”

– the SBU wrote.

The suspects’ homes were searched and relevant munitions and other evidence were found. They were notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code (high treason committed under martial law) and Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 258 (preparation for a terrorist act). The suspects have been detained as a measure of restraint. They face life imprisonment.