SBU exposes network of Russian agents preparing Zelensky's assassination

The SBU investigators foiled the Russian FSB's plans to eliminate President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and other members of the country's top military and political leadership.

Two colonels of the Ukrainian parole service who passed classified information to the Russians were detained. According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the SBU.

"The plans were to be implemented by an agent network that was exposed in advance by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) with the assistance of the leadership of the State Protection Department. The network, whose activities were supervised by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Protection Department who "leaked" secret information to the Russian Federation," the statement said.

Thus, the enemy was actively developing plans to eliminate Zelensky.

One of the tasks of the FSB's intelligence network was to find perpetrators among the military close to the President's security detail who could take the head of state hostage and then kill him.

In addition to Zelensky, the enemy planned to eliminate the head of the SBU, Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, and other senior officials.

It is noted that the liquidation of the head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Budanov, was to be carried out before Easter.

"The enemy's plan was as follows: first, a recruited agent was to observe the movement 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. After that, the Russians planned to hit with another missile, including to destroy the traces of the drone," the SBU said.

The agent was armed by a colonel of the Administration of State Guard of Ukraine (UDO), who personally brought FPV drones, RPG-7 charges, and MON-90 anti-personnel mines to Kyiv. The SBU recorded both the colonel's trips to another region of Ukraine to get drones and explosives, and conversations between the potential terrorist attacker and his FSB "supervisor".

The SBU gradually documented the criminal actions of the defendants and detained them.

"Only a limited number of people knew about our special operation, and I personally supervised its progress. 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," Maliuk said.

The FSB has once again confirmed the status of a terrorist organization, as it was the officers of the 9th Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service who supervised the organization of the attack. They are Maxim Mishustin, Dmitry Perlin, and Alexei Kornev.

In particular, in January 2022, Perlin became the supervisor of the "moles", who were recruited before Russia's full-scale invasion. Until then, they had been "supervised" by his colleague Alexei Kornev.

Thus, before the start of the full-scale war, Kornev held a series of secret meetings with the colonel of the UDO in neighboring European countries. Funds for the agents were also usually transferred abroad.

Searches were conducted at the offenders' places of residence, during which the relevant munitions and other evidence of criminal activity were found and seized.

They were notified of being suspected under Articles 111 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason committed under martial law), 14 (1), 258 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (preparation for a terrorist act).

The suspects were chosen a measure of restraint in the form of detention. The defendants face life imprisonment.