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Ukraine Security Service Detains Teenagers in Assassination Plot
Confirmed
In Short: The SBU alleges that the two local men, aged 18 and 19, had been recruited by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to carry out the plot. Initially, they reportedly carried out arson attacks on servicemen’s vehicles on their handler’s orders.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported the arrest of two teenagers suspected of plotting to assassinate four Ukrainian servicemen in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia on Thursday. According to the SBU, the counterintelligence unit said the police had detained the suspects after they were recruited via a Telegram post offering an “easy way to make money.”
US prosecutors have formally charged five people with ties to Russia’s intelligence services with attempting to recruit American and foreign nationals for assassinations and acts of sabotage in Europe and the United States. The unsealed indictment alleges that the network operated at the Kremlin’s direction and targeted Russian dissidents, as well as civilian and military infrastructure in countries perceived as aligned with Ukraine.
The US Department of Justice announced charges Tuesday against five alleged agents for Russian intelligence accused of conspiring to carry out attacks and murders around the world, including in the United States. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. said, “These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States, attempting to recruit U.S. citizens and foreigners to carry out killings at the behest of the Kremlin.”
The SBU’s report comes after the U.S. Justice Department on September 15 revealed that five people had been charged over alleged plots to surveil and kill Russian dissidents and carry out attacks in Europe. The network behind the assassination attempts was described as the RIS Network, working for the intelligence services of the Russian Federation and operating with saboteurs and local criminals in Europe.
According to the Department of Justice, recruited individuals were offered between $1,000 and $1,500 for surveillance and up to $40,000 for an assassination. The SBU alleges that the two local men were offered similar sums for their involvement.
In a separate development, a South Florida security company hired about 18 Colombian nationals with military experience, initially to provide security for Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a doctor, pastor, and dual Haitian American citizen, who faces eight counts connected to the plot, including conspiring to kidnap or kill a person outside the United States.
The FBI special agent Brett Skiles said, “Today’s multi-location and international arrests underscore the FBI’s continued commitment to bringing all participants in this plot to justice.” The SBU’s report and the US indictment highlight the ongoing efforts by Russian intelligence services to carry out assassinations and sabotage operations globally.
The SBU’s report and the US indictment highlight the ongoing efforts by Russian intelligence services to carry out assassinations and sabotage operations globally. The arrests and charges underscore the international cooperation in combating these threats.
The SBU’s report and the US indictment highlight the ongoing efforts by Russian intelligence services to carry out assassinations and sabotage operations globally. The arrests and charges underscore the international cooperation in combating these threats.
What's confirmed
- In brief: The counterintelligence unit of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said on Friday that the police had detained two teenagers plotting to attack four Ukrainian servicemen.
- The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported the arrest of two teenagers suspected of plotting to assassinate four Ukrainian servicemen in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia on Thursday.
- Chess legend Garry Kasparov says US and Lithuanian security services warned him his life was in danger amid an alleged Russian assassination plot.
What's still developing
- Jury selection began Monday in the federal trial of a Palm Beach County man accused of playing a key role in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
- Jovenel Moïse, 53, was shot dead in July 2021 in a killing which sparked chaos in Haiti Jovenel Moïse, 53, was shot dead in July 2021 in a killing which sparked chaos in Haiti Eighteen people have been arrested in association with the 2021 assassination of the Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, according to US officials.
- All four were linked to CTU, a private security firm based in Florida, and lured into the plot by the prospect of securing lucrative contracts in the event of Moïse’s ouster, according to federal prosecutors.
- Eleven people have already been indicted in connection with the assassination in US courts, which have jurisdiction over plots hatched on American soil.
- Washington DC: First daughter of US President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, was allegedly targeted in an assassination plot by an Iraqi-operated, trained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a news report by the New York Post.
- At a news conference, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the plots included attempts to kill a Russian dissident believed to be living in the Washington, DC area.
- Moscow has consistently rejected accusations that it has orchestrated assassination operations on foreign soil, including in the US.
- I used to joke, "Would that help?" Now there are indictments over a Russian assassination plot on US soil.
- “News that I, along with my longtime associate and co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, Ivan Tyutrin, are on a list of assassination targets did not come as a surprise to me, but it is nevertheless a shock,” Kasparov said on social media.
- “Neither Ivan nor I were explicitly told that we were the individuals whose names are concealed in the indictment against those accused of carrying out the assassination plot,” Kasparov said.
- The New York Post reported yesterday that “a trove of documents” was provided by law enforcement to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) as part of his investigation into the assassination attempt.
- Grassley himself seemed to tell NBC yesterday that there wasn’t new information about a plot.