'Putin assassination averted'
AFP PHOTO / POOL / FILES / MIKHAIL METZEL
Russian and Ukrainian special services have arrested a group of suspects over an alleged plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia Today reported on 27 February.
Russia’s most-wanted terrorist, Doku Umarov, is thought to be behind the plot. According to the detained, they were instructed to carry out a number of attacks in Moscow and to plan a further attack on Putin.
The report said the suspects, linked to a Chechen rebel leader, were preparing to kill Putin in Moscow immediately after next Sunday's presidential vote, in which he is all but certain to reclaim the presidency.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the report to the ITAR-Tass news agency, but refused to make any further comment.
One of the detained revealed they had flown into Ukraine from the United Arab Emirates via Turkey. His accomplice has been killed in an explosion in the apartment they rented, where investigators later found explosives.
Adam Osmayev, a Chechen who previously had lived in London was the liaison in Odessa.
Osmayev said to Channel One while in custody: “The group's mission was to kill Putin using a powerful explosive device. Our deadline was after the Russian presidential election."
Opinion polls show that Putin is all but certain to win a first-round victory in the presidential vote despite a series of massive protests in Moscow against his rule that have dented his popularity.πηγή New europe on line
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