Russia arrests man over ‘Ukraine-backed’ car bombing of double agent in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had detained a man it said had tried to kill an ex-employee of Ukraine’s main security service in Moscow last week with a car bomb on Kyiv’s orders.
A powerful explosion ripped through a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado belonging to Vasily Prozorov, a former Lieutenant-Colonel in Ukraine’s SBU security service, on April 12, leaving Prozorov with wounds to his legs and arms.
Prozorov, who now lives in Russia, had told Russian state news agency RIA how he used his SBU position in Ukraine to pass sensitive information to Russian intelligence agencies from 2014 onwards for ideological reasons.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Tuesday.
In a statement, the FSB said it had detained an unnamed Russian man who it said had worked as an agent for the SBU and had planted the car bomb.
It said the man, who was shown on state media with his face blurred out confessing to the crime, had been charged with attempted murder and the illegal possession of explosives.
Investigators were looking to see if they could also charge him with state treason and terrorism, crimes that can carry a life sentence, the statement said.
