Assassins tried to kill Putin, says Kyiv
Tyrant ‘survived plot 2 months ago’ claims spy chief as Russian death toll passes total in 9-year Afghan war
VLADIMIR Putin survived a recent assassination attempt, ukraine’s spy chief claimed yesterday, as opposition to the dictator’s war appeared to be growing in russia.
the president was attacked by ‘representatives of the caucasus’, according to kyiv intelligence boss kyrylo budanov.
It is not clear which group is alleged to have carried out the plot as the mountainous region, which sits between the black Sea and the caspian, is home to several countries including armenia, azerbaijan, Georgia and parts of southern russia.
Mr budanov, head of the chief intelligence directorate, told the ukrayinska Pravda newspaper: ‘there was an attempt to assassinate Putin. He was even attacked, it is said, by representa
‘Unlimited power and total impunity’
tives of the caucasus, not so long ago. this is non-public information. It was an absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really happened. It was about two months ago.
‘I repeat, this attempt was unsuccessful. there was no publicity about this event, but it took place.’ the claims came as the Ministry of Defence in London said russian losses in the invasion were already ‘likely’ to have matched the death toll from the Soviet union’s disastrous nine-year war in afghanistan.
Western officials last night could not confirm the report of an assassination attempt on Putin. but they said the kremlin leader was still ‘the decision-maker’ in russia and ‘firmly in control of his inner circle and country’.
One said: ‘President Putin is operating – and has done throughout covid – in a smaller and smaller grouping. He has fewer contacts and fewer public engagements, and so, were anyone to attempt to do something like that [assassination], it would I imagine be a hugely complex operation.’
Meanwhile, a veteran russian diplomat to the UN Office in Geneva resigned yesterday, citing Putin’s ‘bloody, witless and absolutely needless ignominy’.
boris bondarev, 41, wrote in a resignation letter: ‘For 20 years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on February 24 of this year.’
He said those who conceived the war ‘want only one thing – to remain in power for ever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire russian navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity’. He criticised the growing ‘lies and unprofessionalism’ in the russian foreign ministry and took particular aim at Sergey Lavrov.
Mr bondarev said of the foreign minister: ‘In 18 years, he went from a professional and educated intellectual... to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world (that is, russia too) with nuclear weapons.
‘today, the ministry of foreign affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred.’ He later said that ‘not all russian diplomats are warmongering’ but that ‘they have to keep their mouths shut’.
Putin’s failing invasion of ukraine has already seen more than 50,000 troops killed or wounded in just three months. around 15,000 soldiers were killed and another 35,000 injured in afghanistan before the Soviets pulled out in 1989.
the losses played a huge part in the collapse of the Soviet union.
ukraine’s government claims more than 27,000 russian troops have been killed in the country since the invasion in February.
the MoD blamed the toll on ‘poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility, and a command approach which is prepared to reinforce failure and repeat mistakes’.
It said: ‘In the first three months of its “special military operation”, russia has likely suffered a similar death toll to that experienced by the Soviet union during its nineyear war in afghanistan.’ the MoD added: ‘the russian public has, in the past, proven sensitive to casualties suffered during wars of choice. as casualties suffered in ukraine continue to rise they will become more apparent, and public dissatisfaction with the war and a willingness to voice it may grow.’
russia has not updated its official death toll since late March when it stood at over 1,351.
but while their losses in Donbas continue to mount, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that ukraine is also losing 50 to 100 men per day in the east, which includes the region. In a press briefing on Sunday he said those killed were defending his country in ‘the most difficult direction’.
‘Casualties continue to rise’