“A gift for Putin”. Yet another plot to kill Zelensky, this time, would have been hatched within the same secret services tasked with defending him. The plan foiled by Kiev, the latest in a series of attempts to eliminate the Ukrainian leader, however appears to be the most sophisticated conceived by Moscow so far. And, according to the Ukrainian 007, it should have been transformed into a gift for the Tsar on the day of his fifth inauguration. Two colonels of the Ukrainian security service SBU were arrested on charges of being part of a network ready to target not only the president, but also the head of the SBU itself, Vasyl Malyuk, and the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
Prices, methods and risks of betrayal
In a video released by the Kiev services, a man with a covered face and a disguised voice gives details on the price, methods and risks of the latest betrayal. “They paid them between 46 thousand and 74 thousand euros”, he says. “They had to hit the president while he went to record his traditional evening video message.” When? “Before Orthodox Easter, last Sunday.” And how? “The plan was to take him hostage and then kill him.” Don’t kill him right away, “because at the same time they also wanted to hit two heads of the Ukrainian services, Budanov and Malyuk”, who were not with him. And again: “One of the two killers had to keep an eye on Budanov’s building, wait for him to arrive by car and send a signal to the Russians. At that point they would have launched a missile, then two FPV drones to kill any survivors, finally a second missile to make a clean sweep.” And instead? “Instead, we arrived first.”
Three Russian spies identified
The two colonels were part of the state security administration, the Udo, which is responsible for guaranteeing the safety of the president. The SBU and SSU, the intelligence and counter-espionage services, arrested them almost red-handed. The Ukrainian 007s also gave the names of the three Russian spies who contacted them: Maxim Mishustine, Dmitry Perlin, Alexey Kornev, all serving at the fifth FSB office in Moscow. The Zelensky operation apparently started a few weeks ago, perhaps with an attempt to also bribe some of the president’s bodyguards.
