‘Nothing sacred' for Kiev
The Ukrainian government has no qualms about targeting religious leaders in its conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated. Earlier on Friday, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that it had foiled an assassination attempt on the Crimean Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kiev attempted to place a bomb in a Moscow monastery to target Metropolitan Tikhon, the head of the Simferopol and Crimean diocese, the FSB claimed.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Peskov said that 'it's clear that the Kiev regime doesn't shy away from anything… There's nothing sacred [for them]. This has been confirmed once again. That's all I can say.'
The FSB reportedly apprehended two suspects, a Russian and Ukrainian citizen respectively, who confessed to being recruited in mid-2024 by Kiev and conspiring to attempt to bomb Moscow's Sretensky monastery. The pair had intended to flee Russia shortly thereafter, using forged documents provided by their Ukrainian handlers.
The FSB released a video featuring the Ukrainian suspect, who claimed that he had been working as an aide to Tikhon while secretly gathering intelligence on him. The man alleged that Kiev's intelligence officers threatened to kill his family, should he refuse to cooperate.
Tikhon has been described as a close spiritual adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, the cleric himself has never confirmed this.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, there have been a series of assassinations on a number of prominent public figures and officials, which Russian authorities have claimed were commissioned and organized by Ukrainian intelligence.
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