MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian special services to assassinate Russian billionaire businessman and CEO of the Tsargrad group of companies Konstantin Malofeev, the FSB’s Center for Public Relations (CPR) told TASS.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented an attempt on the life of a public figure: CEO of the Tsargrad group of companies Konstantin Malofeev," the press service reported.
"The organizer of the crime is the founder and one of the leaders of the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps, who lives on the territory of Ukraine and acts under the control of the Ukrainian Security Service, participating in combat operations against Russian troops on the side of Ukraine. This is Russian citizen Denis Kapustin, born in 1984. The act of terrorism was planned to be carried out by detonating a home-made explosive device attached under Malofeev's car," the FSB reported. It also pointed out that a similar scheme of committing a sabotage and terrorist act was used by the Ukrainian security services in preparation for the murder of Russian journalist Darya Dugina.
The FSB’s Center for Public Relations explained that in August 2022, Russian investigators also prevented a Kapustin-plotted sabotage and terrorist act using a makeshift explosive device at an oil and gas facility in the Volgograd Region."Kapustin's associates - supporters of the right-wing radical organizations ‘White Rex’, ‘Restruct’, ‘Tor Steiner’ and ‘Karpatskaya Sech’ Russians Keiner and Ushkov - were neutralized following an armed resistance," the FSB noted.
In addition, according to the Russian special service, Kapustin organized and directly participated in the March 2, 2023 attack by members of the Russian Volunteer Corps on villages in the Bryansk Region. "At the same time, despite statements made on the Internet that ‘they do not fight civilians and do not kill unarmed people’, the terrorists murdered two civilians, wounded two more, including a child, and engaged in looting. Using the methods of the Nazis during World War II, the bandits robbed local residents, after which they locked them in a house, mined and blew up civilian objects of vital importance," the FSB press service stressed.
Russian investigators opened a criminal case against Kapustin over the attempt on Malofeev’s life under Article 205 (Act of terrorism), 205.4 (Participation in the activities of a terrorist organization) and 222.1 (Illegal trafficking of explosives) of the Russian Criminal Code. Based on the facts of the crimes committed by the Russian Volunteer Corps in the Bryansk Region, the Russian Investigative Committee initiated criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 205, Part 1 of Article 222 and Part 1 of Article 222.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.