Russia today accused the US of bankrolling a bid to assassinate Vladimir Putin.
There were loyalist calls for the dictator to halt foreign trips because of a supposed risk to him from the security services of America, Britain and Ukraine.
Amid the shocking attempt to kill Donald Trump, the Russian foreign ministry bluntly alleged Ukraine was working on plots to strike Putin funded by the US.
This followed quotes from the head of Kyiv’s military intelligence agency – the GRU – that there had indeed been unspecified failed attempts to assassinate Putin.
“They [assassination attempts] were made, but, as you can see, they were unsuccessful so far,” said Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov.
Senior Russian foreign ministry official Maria Zakharova took this as evidence Kyiv was directly working on the assassination of 71-year-old Putin, who started the war against Ukraine.
She alleged that “one of the leaders of the Kyiv regime, Budanov, openly admitted that Ukrainian intelligence was preparing attempts to take the life of the Russian President”.
This was “prepared” with “American money” which had also funded the Ukrainian government and intelligence services, she said.
Putin’s own spokesman was forced to respond, saying: “All threats from the Kyiv regime are obvious. Therefore, the security of the first person is ensured at the proper level.”
But staunchly pro-Kremlin military analyst Sergey Markov said: “Putin is the target.
“And not only for the SBU [Ukrainian security service] and the [GRU] but also for the intelligence services of the USA and Britain and dozens of intelligence services of the world subordinate to them.
“This is why I believe that Putin should not make visits abroad at all, even to friendly countries.
“Russia has not yet decided how to respond. And so far there is no response. And this only encourages the enemy to escalate.”
Meanwhile, there are claims that a hushed-up explosion on March 13, 2024, in Moscow may have been linked to an attempt on Putin’s life.
The car belonged to Denis Chilikov, a driver for influential banking executive Konstantin Kharitonenko.
Telegram channel VChK-OGPU alleged that Chilikov – far from being a victim as was first believed – was a “saboteur” who built an explosive device which detonated because he wrongly handled it.
Chilikova was seriously wounded with his limbs torn off.
He had been due to have access to a major economic forum in St Petersburg attended by Putin, said the channel.
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