Moscow, Feb 28 Russia on Friday accused Ukraine for making an attempt to assassinate a senior Russian Orthodox Church figure, 66-year-old Georgy Alexandrovich Shevkunov, the Tikhon of Simferopol and Crimea who is also a member of Russian President Vladimir Putin's advisory council on culture and the arts.
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) said that it prevented a terrorist attack on the senior bishop that was allegedly planned by the Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence.
Russian media reported that cleric Nikita Ivankovich and Denis Popovich, an aide to the bishop, have been arrested for planning the attack.
"In this case, it is clear that the Kyiv regime does not disdain anything. Nothing is sacred, this is confirmed once again. That is all that can be said," Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary of the Russian President, told reporters on Friday.
Earlier, the FSB stated that the detained Ukrainian and Russian citizens were recruited by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine through social media. During the investigation, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and two fake passports of Ukrainian citizens with photos of detainees and modified installation data were seized.
"The defendants confessed that in the middle of 2024, they were recruited by an employee of the Ukrainian intelligence agency to prepare the physical elimination of Metropolitan Tikhon. In December 2024, the IED was transferred to them through the cache. The criminal action was planned to be carried out during the stay of Metropolitan Tikhon in Moscow. After committing the crime, they planned to leave Russia using fake passports provided by the Ukrainian special services," the FSB stated.
A criminal case has been initiated against the accused persons for preparing a terrorist act and illegal trafficking of explosive devices.
Russia's state-owned Tass news agency reported that more than 70 Ukrainian telephone numbers have been found on the phones of arrested persons.
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