Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged on Monday that Western intelligence agencies, specifically the CIA, had been advising Ukraine on how to assassinate Russian pro-Kremlin television presenter Vladimir Solovyov.
Putin said that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) had foiled the alleged plot to kill Solovyov, but
The FSB said that a group of “neo-Nazis” were planning to kill Solovyov under the direction of Ukraine’s security services, according to a statement from the FSB.
Putin announced that the would-be assassins had been arrested at Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
“This morning, the FSB thwarted the activities of a terrorist group that planned the attack and murder of one of the most famous Russian journalists,” Putin said, according to the TASS state news service.
The suspects were Russian nationals who were in possession of fake Ukrainian passports, illegal narcotics and nationalist literature, the FSB said.
The intelligence agency said that six men had planned to blow up the well known polemicist’s car.
Solovyov is an outspoken supporter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, he blamed Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy of orchestrating the plot to assassinate him during an interview with the RIA Novosti state media outlet.