Putin accuses the West of plot to kill TV presenter

President Putin has accused foreign governments of attempting to “destroy Russia from within”, as Moscow’s security agency arrested six of its citizens for allegedly plotting to murder a famous television presenter.

“They have moved to terrorism — preparing the murder of our journalists,” Putin said in a meeting with senior Russian prosecutors also attended by his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.

 “We know by name the curators of western secret services, primarily, of course, from the CIA, who work with the security agencies of Ukraine. Apparently, they give such advice [to kill journalists]. So much for their attitude towards the rights of journalists . . . [and] human rights in general.”

Putin offered no evidence for the claim and did not name the journalist in question. A statement from the FSB, however, named him as Vladimir Solovyov, a well-known figure who is an ardent supporter of the president and what Russia officially refers to as its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

 “A group of members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Socialism/White Power, banned in Russia, citizens of Russia … on the instructions of the security service of Ukraine, were planning to kill a public figure, the well-known journalist Vladimir Solovyov,” the FSB said in a statement.

 “Members of the criminal group give confessions about the preparation of the murder of Solovyov, after which they planned to hide abroad.”

The alleged assassins were not named, but the FSB said it had recovered a homemade explosive device, eight petrol bombs, six pistols, a sawn-off rifle, a grenade, more than a thousand bullets, drugs, fake Ukrainian passports and “nationalist literature and paraphernalia” in raids on their premises. Alongside a copy of Mein Kampf and a photograph of Adolf Hitler, the images from the raid also showed something rather strange — three copies of the Sims video game.

Eliot Higgins, founder of the investigative website Bellingcat, suggested that the reason was because an assassin would need multiple phone numbers to disguise their identity.

 “I genuinely believe this is a dumb FSB officer being told to get three Sim [cards],” he said.

The Ukrainian intelligence agency, the SBU, called the FSB allegations fantasies. “The SBU has no plans to assassinate V Solovyov,” it said.

Solovyov, 58, has a Sunday evening programme on Russian state television. He is an outspoken supporter of the government and has referred to the invasion as “a righteous operation . . . for de-Nazification in Ukraine”.