Russian FSB prepared an assassination attempt on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), Vasyl Maliuk.
What is known about the exposure of a powerful network of FSB agents in Ukraine
SSU counterintelligence and investigators foiled the FSB's plans to eliminate the President of Ukraine and other members of the country's top military and political leadership. The plans were to be implemented by an agent network exposed in advance by the SSU with the assistance of the leadership of the State Protection Department. The network, whose activities were supervised by the FSB from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Protection Department who leaked classified information to the Russian Federation, the SSU representatives said.
It is emphasised that the FSB agents were tasked with finding a perpetrator who would take hostages and then kill President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Russian special services were looking for such a person among the military, close to Zelenskyy's security.
At the same time, a group of Russian agents was also preparing an assassination attempt on the head of the SSU, Vasyl Malyuk, and the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov.
In particular, it was planned to kill Budanov before Easter.
The enemy's plan was as follows: first, the recruited agent was to observe the movements of a 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.
It is noted that the weapons were provided to the executing agent by a colonel from the Administration of State Guard of Ukraine.
He personally brought FPV drones, RPG-7 charges, and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv.
What is known about the SSU special operation
The SSU recorded all the movements of the colonel with drones and explosives, as well as the conversations between the perpetrator and his FSB supervisors.
A limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally controlled its course. The terrorist attack, which was supposed to be a gift to Putin for his inauguration, was in fact a failure of the Russian secret service. But we must not forget that the enemy is strong and experienced, and cannot be underestimated. We will continue to work proactively to ensure that every traitor receives a well-deserved court sentence, says SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk.
The agency also named the curators of the attempts on senior officials in Ukraine from the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th FSB Service:
Maxim Mishustin;
▪️ Dmytro Perlin;
▪️ Oleksii Kornev.
In particular, in January 2022, Perlin became the supervisor of ‘moles’ who were recruited before Russia's full-scale invasion. Until then, they had been ‘supervised’ by his colleague Olexii Kornev.
Thus, before the start of the full-scale war, Kornev held a series of secret meetings with the colonel in neighbouring European countries. Funds for agents were also usually transferred abroad, the SSU emphasises.
Searches were conducted at the offenders places of residence, during which the relevant munitions and other evidence of criminal activity were found and seized.
