SBU prevents FSB plans to eliminate commander of 108th separate battalion Da Vinci Wolves Filimonov

The Security Service of Ukraine prevented the contract killing of commander of the 108th separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Da Vinci Wolves Serhiy Filimonov: the FSB was preparing an assassination attempt on him, the SBU reports.

On the Telegram channel on Tuesday, the Ukrainian special service informed that the Russian special service recruited a resident of Dnipropetrovsk region under the guise of working for the SBU to commit the crime.

The department explains that agent operations "under a foreign flag" are a fairly new tactic for the Russian special service. "During recruitment interviews, FSB representatives pose as employees of the Security Service and assign tasks to agents allegedly in the interests of Ukraine," the report states.

"This is exactly the kind of trick the ATO participant from Kamianske fell for. He was convinced that he had to neutralize a correctional officer working for the Russian Federation on behalf of the SBU, not a Ukrainian military commander," the special service informs.

As the investigation established, the man received a call on one of the social networks from a representative of the Russian special service, who posed as an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine.

"During the conversation, she reported that the online store where the defendant had previously ordered medical drugs allegedly finances the Russian troops. She used this fabricated information to accuse the Ukrainian of ‘high treason’ and reported that a criminal case had allegedly been opened against him," the report states.

According to the Ukrainian special services, in order to increase psychological pressure, FSB representatives sent the man a fake summons to the SBU for questioning.

After that, as the SBU explains, he was offered ostensibly to "cooperate" with the Service in exchange for the closure of the criminal case. For this, the defendant was sent a questionnaire for admission to the SBU and was instructed to come to Kyiv.

"FSB handlers manipulated the patriotic beliefs of the Ukrainian, who sincerely believed that he was helping the Ukrainian special services fight the enemy. In correspondence with his liaison, the man expressed his readiness to destroy the occupiers - even at the cost of his own life," the agency emphasizes.

According to the report, upon arrival in Kyiv, the recruit was given the task of renting an apartment in a residential complex where, according to the FSB, the Ukrainian military commander, whom they planned to eliminate, lived, and to begin tracking Serhiy Filimonov's car.

"At the same time, the FSB officer presented the Ukrainian soldier as a ‘traitor’ who was allegedly correcting strikes on Kyiv. After one of the massive missile strikes on the capital, the supervisor convinced the defendant that the ‘object’ he was monitoring was responsible for this," the report says.

The recruit regularly sent the supervisor photo reports on visual surveillance: photos from the yard of the house and a description of the soldier's movements.

"Later, the FSB supervisor gave the defendant the coordinates of a cache on the outskirts of Kyiv, where automatic weapons were hidden. After receiving the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the man continued the surveillance, and later received an order to eliminate the Ukrainian soldier," the Ukrainian special service reports.

SBU operatives detained the recruit when he went out into the street with a loaded weapon.

During the search, the mobile phone from which the defendant corresponded with the FSB supervisor was seized.

Under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, the detainee was informed of suspicion under Article 263 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.

"The SBU emphasizes! Representatives of the Security Service do not hire people by phone, do not offer to perform illegal actions and do not set dubious tasks. The SBU acts exclusively within the framework of the current legislation of Ukraine. In case of receiving a suspicious summons or contacts with unknown persons who present themselves as SBU employees, immediately report this to the SBU hotline 0 800 501 482 or to the chat bot ‘Spaly FSB’ t.me/spaly_fsb_bot," the message states.