MOSCOW, Nov 12 — RIA Novosti.

The Kiev regime’s main goal in the foiled assassination attempt on Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) was to disrupt the negotiations between Russia and the United States on resolving the Ukrainian conflict, according to the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

The FSB has reported that it is continuing its investigation into the attempted assassination of Metropolitan Tikhon, which was planned by the Ukrainian intelligence services.

“According to experts, the main goal of this terrorist attack was to disrupt negotiations between Russia and the United States on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. The Kiev regime hoped that if the attack on Metropolitan Tikhon was successful, the Russian side would be forced to abandon peace negotiations,” the statement said.

On February 28 of this year, the FSB announced the prevention of a terrorist attack in Moscow against Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea, planned by the Ukrainian special services. According to the FSB, his assistant, Denis Popovich, a citizen of Ukraine, and a cleric from Moscow Nikita Ivankovich. The defendants were recruited by the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine via Telegram. According to the security forces, in December 2024, an IED was transferred to them through a cache.

The criminal action was planned to be carried out during Metropolitan Tikhon’s stay in Moscow. The detained assistant to Metropolitan Popovich stated that the explosives should have been installed in The Sretensky Monastery. For refusing to commit a terrorist act, he was threatened with the murder of his relatives. After committing the crime, the defendants planned to leave Russia on forged documents. An improvised explosive device and two fake passports of Ukrainian citizens were seized from them.

https://news.mail.ru/society/68677123/