SBU says it foiled FSB plot targeting Russian opposition figure in Kyiv

The plot was being prepared by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, the SBU said in a statement on Sept. 2.

Operational and investigative measures are ongoing, the agency said, without providing further details.

Sources cited by RBC-Ukraine said the intended target was Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps, or RVC.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said the planned attack had been thwarted in Kyiv.

Several Telegram channels reported overnight on Sept. 2 that a shooting had allegedly taken place involving SBU and Defense Intelligence personnel in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi District. Those reports were not officially confirmed in the material provided.

Kaplunov had been reported missing days earlier

RVC chief of staff Oleksandr Fortuna said on Sept. 1 that Kaplunov had been taken by unidentified people outside his home several days earlier.

The unit immediately contacted Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, the SBU and the State Bureau of Investigation after learning of his disappearance, Fortuna said.

RVC leader Denys Kapustin later said he did not approve of Fortuna’s decision to make the situation public and urged people to wait for official statements from the relevant authorities.