Assassins planning to kill Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after the presidential election have been apprehended by special forces in Odessa, state-owned Channel One reported Monday.
Explosions during the manufacturing of bombs set to be used in the attempt tipped authorities off, and the suspects were arrested in Odessa after their apartment burst into flames following the accidental explosion Jan. 4.
Suspect Ruslan Madayev died in the explosion, while a second suspect, Ilya Pyanzin, was taken into custody. A third member of the group, Adam Osmayev, was later apprehended.
Pyanzin said he and Madayev arrived in Ukraine from the United Arab Emirates under explicit orders from representatives of Chechen terrorist leader Doku Umarov to prepare for "sabotage on economic facilities" in Moscow and the assassination attempt.
During an interrogation, Osmayev revealed the plot to use explosives to attack the government motorcade just after the March 4 election.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the group had been planning an attack on the prime minister.
Plans and reconnaissance materials for the attack were found on Osmayev's laptop, including multiple videos showing how bodyguards and officials were distributed among government motorcades when driving around the city.
Hoping to bargain for leniency, Osmayev showed investigators the locations of some explosives that had already been taken to Moscow and were hidden near Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
The investigation by special forces in Ukraine and Russia is ongoing.
A similar attempt to assassinate Putin was also reported during the last presidential election.
Explosions during the manufacturing of bombs set to be used in the attempt tipped authorities off, and the suspects were arrested in Odessa after their apartment burst into flames following the accidental explosion Jan. 4.
Suspect Ruslan Madayev died in the explosion, while a second suspect, Ilya Pyanzin, was taken into custody. A third member of the group, Adam Osmayev, was later apprehended.
Pyanzin said he and Madayev arrived in Ukraine from the United Arab Emirates under explicit orders from representatives of Chechen terrorist leader Doku Umarov to prepare for "sabotage on economic facilities" in Moscow and the assassination attempt.
During an interrogation, Osmayev revealed the plot to use explosives to attack the government motorcade just after the March 4 election.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the group had been planning an attack on the prime minister.
Plans and reconnaissance materials for the attack were found on Osmayev's laptop, including multiple videos showing how bodyguards and officials were distributed among government motorcades when driving around the city.
Hoping to bargain for leniency, Osmayev showed investigators the locations of some explosives that had already been taken to Moscow and were hidden near Kutuzovsky Prospekt.
The investigation by special forces in Ukraine and Russia is ongoing.
A similar attempt to assassinate Putin was also reported during the last presidential election.