Intelligence chief: There have already been several attack plans against Putin

According to Ukrainian military intelligence, there have been several assassination attempts against Russian President Vladimir Putin. “But as you can see, they were unsuccessful,” intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told an interviewer from the Ukrainian portal “New Voice.” The general gave no indication of the basis for his claim. He also gave no indication as to whether his service or other Kiev intelligence services could be involved in such plans.

But Budanov is known for provocations, which are part of his psychological warfare. The Kremlin reacted to the statement: Spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear that the security of the first man in Russia was adequately ensured. “The threat from the Kiev regime is obvious,” he told the state news agency Tass in Moscow.

Vladimir Putin has been in power for more than 20 years

Budanov added fuel to the fire by saying that Putin was no longer the compromise figure recognized by all in the Russian elite. But because he had been in power for more than 20 years, the Russians were afraid of losing him. Therefore, he expected that after Putin’s death, the same thing would happen as after the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. For people in the Soviet Union, “their whole world collapsed at that time, they didn’t know how to go on living,” said the head of military intelligence.

So far, little is known about attempted attacks on Putin. Budanow claimed in May 2022 that there had been an assassination attempt on Putin just a few days after the attack on Ukraine. This was said to have been carried out by men from the Caucasus. However, Budanow could not substantiate his claim.

Selenskyj no longer counts attack plans

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once said in an interview that he had stopped counting how many assassination attempts there had been against him. Immediately after the Russian invasion in February 2022, Russian special forces hunted him down in Kyiv. Most recently, in May of this year, the top of the personal security team was reorganized. Two officers were allegedly hired by Moscow to assassinate Zelensky, Budanov and other Ukrainian officials.