Russia's FSB Detains Ukrainian Agent Behind Bombing of Defector's Car in Moscow

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday it arrested a Russian national who had planted explosives onto the car of a former Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officer in Moscow at the instruction of the Ukrainian special services.

This past Friday, a car belonging to former SBU Lt. Col. Vasily Prozorov exploded in Moscow while he was inside the vehicle. Prozorov survived, with minor injures, and blamed the assassination attempt on Ukrainian intelligence.

"FSB has detained a Russian national, born in 1983, who, under the instructions of the Ukrainian special services, detonated an explosive device planted onto the car of a Russian national and ex-SBU employee in Moscow," FSB said.

❗️A Ukrainian agent, following orders of a handler, who was instructed by the head of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk, remotely orchestrated the explosion of a former Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) employee’s car in Moscow, the FSB reported. https://t.co/G5wAHYrg5o

— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) April 16, 2024

Russian investigators have established that following the launch of the Russian special military operation in February 2022, the perpetrator went to Ukraine, where he was subsequently recruited by a SBU employee in October 2023, FSB said.

"In March, instructed by his supervisor who was acting under direct guidance of SBU chief Malyuk Vasyl, he [the perpetrator] arrived in Russia, received elements of a radio-controlled explosive device and assembled it, and after examining the area of the ex-SBU employee's residence address, he mined the car," the statement read.

The Russian Investigative Committee's Moscow office has opened a criminal case into attempted murder as well as illegal acquisition, possession and transportation of explosive devices, FSB said. Separately, an inquiry is underway aimed at qualifying the perpetrator's actions as terrorism and treason, which might lead to a life sentence.

"All the organizers and accomplices in the crime, including foreign citizens, will be put on the wanted list and prosecuted according to Russian legislation," FSB said.

Prior to fleeing to Russia, Prozorov worked in the SBU department for the Zaporozhye Region. After the 2014 coup in Ukraine, he moved to Kiev to serve in the so-called Anti-Terrorism Center of the SBU and has been commandeered to the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation Zone in Donbass several times.

In 2018, Prozorov moved to Russia and has since participated in investigating crimes believed to have been committed by the Ukrainian government. He has recently been working on a documentary about the events of May 2, 2014, in Odessa.