SBU foils Russian assassination attempt in Kyiv
Counterintelligence agents of the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) prevented the contract killing by the Russian Federal Secuirty Service (FSB) of an officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR). The FSB agent was detained.
"As a result of a multi-stage special operation in Kyiv, an FSB agent was exposed who tried to eliminate a Ukrainian soldier in the central part of the city. SBU employees detained the killer "red-handed" when he took out a pistol and aimed at the military GUR of the Ministry of Defense in one of the capital’s institutions," the message on the Telegram channel said on Friday.
As the investigation established, the attempted murder was committed by a 28-year-old citizen of a Central Asian country. The enemy recruited the person involved in his homeland when he was looking for easy money in Telegram channels.
"On the instructions of the Russian agents, the agent, posing as a tourist, arrived in Ukraine and first stopped in Pervomaisk in the Mykolaiv region. There he purchased several smartphones and SIM cards, which he regularly changed for covert communication sessions with the FSB. Later, the foreigner left for Kyiv, received from the curator a photo of a potential "target", its approximate geolocation and the coordinates of the cache, from which he took a pistol with cartridges," the SBU said.
For the physical assault on the officer, he was promised $50,000 and legalization in one of the EU countries.
As reported, at the scene of the attempt on the Ukrainian intelligence officer, a weapon with ammunition and a smartphone with evidence of his contacts with the FSB were seized from the detainee.
SBU investigators informed the agent of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 2 of Article 15, Part 2 of Article 115 (completed attempt to commit murder); Part 1 of Art. 111-2 (assistance to an aggressor state); Part 1 of Art. 263 (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives).
The perpetrator is in custody. He faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.