Ukrainian bomb plot targeting Russian defense industry thwarted – FSB

Kiev’s military intelligence allegedly coerced the suspect into an attempted assassination through a financial scam

Russia has foiled a Ukrainian military intelligence service assassination plot against a senior employee of a major defense plant in the Urals, the Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday.

The incident was reported in Russia’s Republic of Udmurtia, whose capital, Izhevsk, hosts the firearms manufacturer Kalashnikov and other defense enterprises. 

According to the FSB, Kiev’s HUR intelligence agency recruited a man, provided him with instructions on handling explosives and toxins, and tasked him with carrying out the bombing attack. The suspect has been charged with preparing a terrorist act.

A video released by the FSB suggested that Ukrainian operatives coerced the man into the plot through a financial scam. He said he had been told that a bank loan exceeding $100,000 had been taken out in his name, leaving him vulnerable to prosecution.

The FSB said the suspect was arrested after surveilling the residence of his intended target. Officials shared footage of him filming a rural home over a fence with his phone.

Last month, the Russian agency reported preventing another alleged Ukrainian-organized terror plot, in which a 54-year-old Russian woman was tricked into debt and then unwittingly sent on a suicide bombing mission. Investigators said she survived because an encrypted signal intended to trigger the explosive device failed to transmit.

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