Europe Asia News

In a statement, the FSB said: “The Federal Security Service has foiled a terrorist attack planned by Ukrainian intelligence services, which aimed to target a high-ranking Russian government official while he was visiting the graves of his relatives at the Troekurovskoye Cemetery.”

The agency added: “An illegal migrant from Central Asia, two Russian citizens previously convicted on drug-related charges, and Jaloliddin Kurbanovich Shamsov, born in 1979 and residing in Kyiv, are wanted by Russian law enforcement for murder and illegal arms trafficking.”

According to authorities, communication devices were seized from the suspects. These contained messages exchanged with a Ukrainian intelligence operative via WhatsApp and Signal, as well as a remote-controlled camera disguised as a vase that was transmitting data abroad.

One of the detainees stated that he and his wife traveled to Moscow after a man named Ruslan contacted him and offered him a job in exchange for methadone.

The identity of the “senior government official” targeted in the assassination attempt has not been disclosed.