Russia says far-right group behind foiled plot to assassinate Kremlin-linked tycoon
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Businessman Konstantin Malofeev has been indicted by the United States for sanctions violations relating to the war in Ukraine.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MOSCOW - Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it thwarted an attempt to assassinate a controversial tycoon, blaming a Russian-founded sabotage group that last week penetrated the country’s borders from Ukraine.
“The Federal Security Service has thwarted an attempt on the life of a public figure – chairman of the board of directors of the Tsargrad group of companies Konstantin Malofeev,” the FSB said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.
Mr Malofeyev is a Kremlin-linked businessman who had been indicted by the United States for sanctions violations.
Washington said in February that his seized assets would be diverted to “support the people of Ukraine”.
The FSB said the assassination attempt had been orchestrated by Mr Denis Kapustin, the alleged founder of the Russian Volunteer Corps which claimed to have breached Russia’s borders in the southern Bryansk region last week.
The statement said Mr Kapustin who was born in 1984, lives in Ukraine, takes orders from Kyiv’s security services and fights against Russian troops.
“The act of terrorism was planned to be carried out by detonating a homemade explosive device attached under Malofeev’s car,” it added.
The FSB said the attempt on the tycoon’s life resembled that of the killing last August of Ms Darya Dugina, daughter of far-right thinker and Kremlin supporter Alexander Dugin. REUTERS
