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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
FSB thwarted the GUR's attempt to carry out a terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon.
2025-03-01
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Federal Security Service (FSB) prevented a terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon ( Shevkunov ) of Simferopol and Crimea. Security forces detained two citizens recruited by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR). Details — in the Regnum News Agency article.

RECRUITMENT IN TELEGRAM
On the morning of February 28, the FSB reported the arrest of a Ukrainian citizen and a Russian, whom the GUR recruited via Telegram in mid-2024. The assassination attempt on Tikhon was made by his assistant, Ukrainian citizen Denis Popovich. During interrogation, he admitted that the Ukrainian special services had instructed him to monitor the metropolitan, and in case of refusal, they threatened to kill his relatives.

"The task was to find an ally and eliminate Metropolitan Tikhon. The explosives themselves were handed over to us in the form of a stash," the detainee admitted.

BOMB IN THE TEMPLE
The Metropolitan was to be killed using an explosive device that was handed over to the suspects through a hiding place in December 2024. They were to plant the explosives in the Metropolitan’s living quarters in Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery.

The terrorist attack was supposed to be carried out while Tikhon was in Moscow. Popovich's accomplice was Nikita Ivankovich, a cleric from the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki. Popovich was supposed to bring the bomb to the church.

Ivankovic said that the first assassination attempt failed due to Popovic's arrest.

“The first assassination attempt was planned for the beginning of 2025, but due to the fact that Denis was detained, it was not carried out, so the assassination attempt was planned for the end of February 2025,” Ivankovic said.

In January, police detained Popovich near the Turgenevskaya metro station for provocative behavior and foul language. The Meshchansky Court of Moscow found him guilty of petty hooliganism and disobedience to government officials and sentenced him to 15 days of administrative arrest, TASS reported.

After committing the crime, the suspects planned to leave Russia using fake passports provided by Ukrainian special services, the FSB said.

The service published footage of the suspects being detained. Both detainees confessed. A criminal case was opened against them under articles on preparation for a terrorist act and illegal trafficking of explosive devices.

In the phones of Popovich and Ivankovich, law enforcement officers found more than 70 Ukrainian contacts, including the press secretary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Margarita Rivchachenko. In addition, in the apartment of one of the perpetrators, security forces found a shovel stained with soil, and then discovered a cache in a forest belt, which contained a homemade explosive device in a plastic box. Also, during the search of the suspects, two fake passports with photographs of the detainees were found.

KREMLIN: NOTHING IS SACRED FOR THE KYIV REGIME
Tikhon has been the head of the Crimean Metropolitanate since October 2023. From 1995 to 2018, he was the abbot of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery, and from 2018 to 2023, he was the abbot of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery (where he was a novice in the 1980s) and Metropolitan of Pskov and Pechersky.

Since 2016, Tikhon has headed the Patriarchal Council for Culture. He is the author of a number of theological, historical and other books, the most famous of which is “Unholy Saints and Other Stories.” The number of copies of this work sold by 2019 exceeded 3 million.

The presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the assassination attempt on Tikhon showed that the Kiev regime does not disdain anything in its actions against Russia. For the Kiev special services, nothing is sacred, he emphasized.

On February 27, President Vladimir Putin noted at the FSB board meeting that the number of terrorist crimes in Russia is growing, and most of them are organized by Ukrainian special services. Putin called on the FSB to use its available forces and means as effectively as possible and to pay special attention to preventive measures.

More from regnum.ru
FSB releases new footage in case of attempted assassination of Metropolitan Tikhon

The Federal Security Service (FSB) has published new footage in the case of the assassination attempt on Metropolitan Tikhon ( Shevkunov ) of Simferopol and Crimea.

The video shows the moment of the arrest of one of the suspects in the preparation of the terrorist attack. In the attacker's apartment, security forces found a shovel covered in soil. Then there are shots from the place where the cache was found in the forest belt, which contained a homemade explosive device in a plastic box.



Two fake passports with photographs of the detainees were also found.

As reported by the Regnum news agency, the detention of a Russian and a Ukrainian citizen, who were recruited by Ukrainian special services on Telegram, became known on February 28. Security forces seized a homemade explosive device from the men, as well as two fake Ukrainian passports. A criminal case was opened against the Ukrainian agents under articles on preparation for a terrorist attack and illegal trafficking of explosive devices.

The FSB Public Relations Center previously published footage of the detention of GUR agents. The recording shows security officers approaching one of the suspects, putting his hands behind his back and handcuffing him. The law enforcement officers then take the man to a car.

Metropolitan assistant Denis Popovich and cleric of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Sokolniki Nikita Ivankovich admitted during interrogation that they were preparing an assassination attempt on the clergyman. According to them, they were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence and, on its instructions, they planned to detonate a bomb in the Sretensky Monastery.

Popovich said he was supposed to follow Metropolitan Tikhon. He claims he was threatened with reprisals against his relatives if he refused to carry out the task. He was then tasked with finding an ally and eliminating the cleric. The suspects were supposed to plant a bomb in Metropolitan Tikhon's living quarters at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, and after completing the task, leave Russia using forged documents.

Posted by:badanov

#1  Ukrainian Nazis ["Ptooey!"]
Ape Rooskie consumers of hooey:
"Explosives from cache
Well-concealed in moustache,
I shall kick Tikhon's ash, and... kablooey!"
Posted by: Pancho Poodle8452   2025-03-01 23:58  

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