Russia Says it Foiled Ukrainian Assassination Plot Against Senior Putin-linked Priest

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board, in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board, in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Russia Says it Foiled Ukrainian Assassination Plot Against Senior Putin-linked Priest

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board, in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board, in Moscow, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Friday it had foiled an attempt by Ukraine's military intelligence service to assassinate Tikhon Shevkunov, a senior priest in Russia's Orthodox Church.
According to Reuters, there was no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the allegation.
Shevkunov, who has been described in Russian media reports for years as "Putin's confessor" - something he has neither confirmed nor denied - has maintained a public acquaintance with President Vladimir Putin since the late 1990s and the Kremlin has said the two men know each other well.
In 2023, he was appointed metropolitan of Crimea, becoming one of the top Russian Orthodox Church officials on the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The FSB said in a statement it had detained one Russian and one Ukrainian man in connection with the plot and had confiscated an improvised explosive device. It said the two suspects, whom it did not name, had confessed.
It said that the two men, who had been recruited by Ukraine using the Telegram messenger service, had been plotting the assassination attempt since mid-2024 and had planned to kill Shevkunov in Moscow.
Ukraine has taken responsibility for a number of assassinations in Russia since the start of the war in 2022, including pro-Moscow Ukrainian blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in April 2023, and the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, Igor Kirillov, in December 2024.



Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Russia, North Korea Foreign Ministers Meet, Pyongyang Backs Ukraine War

12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
12 July 2025, North Korea, Wonsan: Sergei Lavrov (2nd L), Foreign Minister of Russia, and his North Korean counterpart Choe Son-hui (3rd R) hold a meeting. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his North Korean counterpart in the coastal city of Wonsan on Saturday, during which Pyongyang reaffirmed its support for Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported.

Lavrov flew out of Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday following the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, arriving the same day in Wonsan, North Korea, home to a newly opened seaside resort but also known for its missile and naval facilities, reported Reuters.

Lavrov's visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries as they upgrade their strategic cooperation to now include a mutual defense pact.

"We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis ... Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support for all the objectives of the special military operation, as well as for the actions of the Russian leadership and armed forces," TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov's arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

TASS said the new Wonsan coastal resort could boost Russian tourism to North Korea, citing the resumption of direct trains from Moscow to Pyongyang and a project to build a bridge across the Tumen River forming part of the boundary between North Korea, China and Russia.

TASS quoted Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying more high-level delegations would visit North Korea later this year.

Rudenko said the accord on strategic partnership "clearly meets the changing needs over recent decades and strengthens traditionally friendly, good-neighborly Russian-Korean relations to a qualitatively new level as allies."