Russia's Federal Security Service announced on Thursday that it had thwarted several plots by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill senior Russian officials and their families in Moscow using bombs disguised as electricity banks and document folders.
On December 17, Ukrainian SBU intelligence killed Lieutenant General Kirillov, commander of Russia's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces in Moscow, outside his apartment by detonating a bomb attached to his electric scooter.
An SBU official confirmed to Reuters that Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the attack.
Russia said the killing was a terrorist attack by Ukraine, with which it has been at war since February 2022, and vowed revenge.
“Russia's Federal Security Service has thwarted a series of assassination attempts against senior officials of the Ministry of Defense,” the FSB said in a statement.
“Four Russian nationals involved in preparing these attacks have been detained,” the statement said.
Ukraine's SBU did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
The FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB, said the Russian nationals were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence.
According to the FSB, one of the men recovered a bomb disguised as a mobile charger in Moscow and planned to attach it to the car of a senior Defense Ministry official using a magnet.
Another Russian man was tasked with reconnaissance missions for senior Russian defense officials, and one of his plans involved delivering a bomb disguised as a document folder, the paper said.
“An explosive device disguised as a portable charger (power bank) with a magnet attached had to be placed under the official car of one of the Russian Ministry of Defense officials,” the report said.
The FSB said the exact date of the planned attack was unknown, but one of the suspects said he had recovered the bomb on December 23.
Russian state television aired footage of some of the suspects admitting to having been scouted by Ukrainian intelligence for bombings against Russian Defense Ministry officials.
Moscow holds Ukraine responsible for a series of high-profile assassinations in the country aimed at weakening morale and claims Western countries are supporting a “terrorist regime” in Kiev.
Ukraine says Russia's war against it poses an existential threat to the Ukrainian state, but has made clear that it considers such targeted killings a legitimate means.
Darya Dugina, 29, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, was murdered near Moscow in August 2022.
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the killing.
The paper said U.S. officials later admonished Ukrainian officials for the assassination. Ukraine has denied killing Duzhina.
