MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Ukrainian intelligence agencies, when carrying out their terrorist attacks, operate under the supervision of third countries and directly Western intelligence services, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin, a journalist from Vesti, adding that the recent assassination attempt on Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev clearly showed the British trace.

He emphasized that much has already been accomplished recently in the investigation of this assassination attempt: "We have practically identified all the participants and perpetrators of this crime. You know that a number of individuals involved in this have been detained. One citizen managed to escape and hide in Ukraine."

"We clearly understand that the Ukrainian intelligence services are the masterminds. And behind them are third-party countries, which we discussed earlier, with the Ukrainian intelligence services operating under the supervision or with the supervision of Western intelligence services. We see a British connection here, first and foremost," the FSB chief noted.