Putin survived assassination attempt after invasion, Ukraine intelligence official says
- Ukraine’s top military intelligence official has told a Ukrainian newspaper that there was an attempt on the Russian president’s life in March
- He appears to say Ukraine was not behind it, linking the attempt to ‘the Caucasus’ which has both Russian and non-Russian areas
Russian President Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt launched not long after he invaded Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s top military intelligence official.
Kyrylo Budanov told the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda: “There was an attempt to assassinate Putin” in March.
The newspaper also published an English version of the comments. Per Pravda’s translation, Budanov said:
“There was an attempt to assassinate Putin… He was even attacked, it is said, by representatives 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 2 months ago.
“I repeat, this attempt was unsuccessful. There was no publicity about this event, but it took place.”
Pravda said the comments were part of a longer interview, which it would publish soon. It was not possible to verify the claims.