Moscow claims to have thwarted attack on Crimean boss. Here Putin is said to have celebrated the Wagner uprising

According to the Russian internal secret service FSB, it prevented an attack on the governor of the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, Sergey Aksyonov. “An attempted assassination attempt against the governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, organized by the Ukrainian secret service, has been thwarted,” the Russian state news agency TASS is quoted as saying by the Russian secret service on Monday.

The information cannot be independently verified. Russian state media have often spread false reports in the past. So far, Ukraine has not commented on the process.

The suspect is said to have been recruited from Ukraine

The FSB accused Ukrainian security forces of planning to plant a bomb in the car of the Moscow-appointed governor. According to the Russian Federal Security Service (CPS), the suspect – an alleged Russian citizen – has been arrested.

The 35-year-old man is said to have been recruited by the Ukrainian security service (SBU) to carry out the murder. The FSB has already criminally prosecuted the suspect for attempted murder and attempted terrorism, according to the Russian state-funded Tass news agency.

In a video released by the Russian CPS, the man allegedly disclosed the attempted attack. He was approached by the Ukrainian security service and underwent special training in Ukraine. It is not the first suspected assassination attempt on Crimean leader Aksyonov: in May this year, Russian authorities accused the Ukrainian SBU of planning an assassination attempt on the governor.

(afp, t-online, lec)