Russia’s FSB foils assassination attempt on security chief Shoigu — media

Russian media outlet Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) has reported that Sergei Shoigu, Secretary of Russia’s Security Council and one of the country’s highest-ranking officials, was the intended target of a recently thwarted assassination attempt.

MK disclosed Shoigu’s name on November 18, following an earlier announcement by the Federal Security Service (FSB) confirming the prevention of a planned terrorist attack but withholding the identity of the target.

According to details published by the National News Service, the plotters intended to detonate an explosive device at Moscow’s Troyekurovskoye Cemetery, near the graves of Shoigu’s relatives. The bomb was reportedly to be disguised as a video camera hidden inside a flower vase, allowing the perpetrators to place it without drawing attention.

The FSB has detained three alleged accomplices: a Russian married couple described as drug-dependent, and an undocumented migrant from a Central Asian country who is said to be wanted in Kyiv for murder. The couple allegedly agreed to plant the device in exchange for a dose of narcotics.

Security officials warned that the attempted attack on Shoigu may be part of a broader series of plots targeting senior Russian government figures in different regions of the country.

By Khagan Isayev