They wanted to kill the commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion Filimonov: the SBU prevented the assassination attempt

The Security Service of Ukraine prevented a contract killing of the commander of the 108th separate battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “Wolves of Da Vinci” Sergei Filimonov.

The SBU press service reported this.

It is noted that in order to carry out the crime, the Russian special service recruited a resident of the Dnepropetrovsk region, posing as SBU employees.

“False flag” agent operations are a fairly new tactic for the Russian special services,” the SBU reported.

According to the case materials, during recruitment conversations, FSB representatives identified themselves as employees of the Security Service of Ukraine and set the agent a task allegedly in the interests of the state. In this way, they drew into the operation an ATO participant from Kamenskoye, who sincerely believed that he was helping the SBU neutralize a spotter working for the Russian Federation.

According to the investigation, the man received a phone call via a social network from a woman who introduced herself as an SBU employee. She reported that the online store where the suspect had previously ordered medical supplies allegedly financed Russian troops. This information was used to accuse the Ukrainian of “high treason” and reported the opening of a fictitious criminal case.

“In order to increase psychological pressure, FSB representatives sent the man a fake summons for questioning at the SBU,” the report says.

After that, he was offered alleged “cooperation” with the Service in exchange for closing the case. To do this, he was sent a questionnaire for “an appointment with the SBU” and ordered to come to Kyiv.

The SBU noted that the FSB handlers manipulated the Ukrainian’s patriotic beliefs. He was convinced that he was helping the Ukrainian special service and expressed his readiness to destroy the occupiers even at the cost of his own life.

In Kyiv, the suspect was given the task of renting an apartment near the house where, according to the FSB, Filimonov lived, and of starting surveillance of his car. A representative of the Russian special service assured the man that the Ukrainian Armed Forces commander was allegedly a “traitor” who was directing strikes on Kyiv.

After one of the missile strikes on the capital, the curator convinced the subject that the responsibility for this was borne by the “object” of surveillance. The agent regularly sent the curator photo reports, including photographs of the yard and a description of the soldier’s movements.

Subsequently, the suspect received the coordinates of a cache on the outskirts of Kyiv, where automatic weapons were hidden. After receiving the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the man continued surveillance and then received an order to eliminate Filimonov.

SBU operatives detained him when he was going out into the street with a loaded weapon. During the search, his mobile phone was confiscated, from which the suspect corresponded with his FSB handler.