The Kremlin called the Ukrainian intelligence plan to assassinate Putin “terrorist” and insisted that the Russian president was under strict protection.
“A terrorist regime talks about its terrorist aspirations,” the Kremlin spokesman told Rossiya 24 television station today, referring to earlier statements by Vadym Skibitsky, deputy director general of the General Department of Defense Intelligence. Ukraine, that assassinating Russian President Vladimir Putin is its top priority.
According to Peskov, such statements show that the Russian operation in Ukraine is “more than justifiable, more than necessary and must be completed”.
Asked whether the Russian president’s security forces were beefed up after the threat from Ukraine, Peskov expressed confidence in the country’s commander-in-chief’s protection work.
“Believe me, our security agencies know what they’re doing and they know what they’re doing,” he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in Moscow, Russia, December 2022. Photo: Reuters
According to Skibitsky, in addition to President Putin, Ukrainian intelligence also plans to assassinate Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov, as well as Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of a Russian private security corporation. .
Russia and Ukraine regularly accuse each other of trying to assassinate their leaders. Kiev announced early last year that it had thwarted a plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky by Russian special forces.
Late last month, German newspaper Bild reported that Ukraine’s security services had carried out the assassination attempt by sending drones loaded with explosives to attack Putin while he was visiting an industrial area near Moscow.
Russia earlier this month accused Ukraine of plotting to assassinate Putin with a drone strike on the Kremlin. The drone exploded on top of the Kremlin, but the Russian president was not there at the time.
Ukraine denies any involvement, while the Kremlin says Russia will respond “anywhere and anytime if necessary”. Top Russian lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin called on Moscow to use “weapons capable of stopping and destroying the terrorist government of Kiev”.
Huyen Le (according to RT, Daily Beast, Welt)
