Security officers have detained a Ukrainian secret service agent who planned to assassinate officials in the Lugansk People’s Republic, a law-enforcement source said.
Earlier, LPR Acting Head Leonid Pasechnik thanked the counterintelligence service personnel who had prevented terrorist attacks in the runup to the referendum on the Republic’s accession to Russia.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had been planning to kill a high-ranking regional official and four town and district heads of the Republic.
“Counterintelligence officers detained SBU agent Vladislav Romensky and identified his supervisor, SBU officer Kirill Goncharov,” the law-enforcement source said.
Under SBU design, its agent, after the assassination of the Belovodsk district head, had to kill another three officials.
“Romensky was detained at the moment of withdrawal of a terrorist cache; later on, he made a confession,” the source said adding that the investigation materials against the SBU unit that planned to foil the referendum, helped detain Romensky and uncover an extensive SBU network.
“The ongoing efforts to stop SBU terrorist activities partially rely on Ukrainian security officers who resent the course of the incumbent Ukrainian leadership,” the source said.
On September 23-27, the Lugansk People’s Republic held the referendum on joining the Russian Federation as a constituent entity. Polling stations opened to voters only on September 27; on other dates, voting took place at special venues including public space in residential areas. The LPR opened 461 voting stations and another 201 were opened in Russian regions. As many as 98.42 percent of the voters supported accession to Russia.
The Lugansk People’s Republic became a part of Russia on September 30, 2022. *i*ie
