MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. The failed assassination attempt on Russian billionaire and Tsargrad group CEO Konstantin Malofeev came as yet another example of the criminal nature of the Kiev regime, which stoops to terrorist methods, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary on Monday.

"The failed attempt on Konstantin Malofeev's life is yet another example of the deeply criminal nature of the Kiev regime, which won’t shy away from openly terrorist methods in suppressing dissent, adding to the long list of its heinous atrocities against civilian representatives of the media space," the diplomat said.

The same scheme involving a car bomb was used in August 2022, when journalist Darya Dugina was killed, Zakharova went on to say. "Earlier, in April 2022, we managed to prevent just in time an attempted terrorist attack against a number of prominent Russian journalists and media figures, which had been prepared specifically on orders from Ukrainian security agencies," the diplomat stressed.

The website "Mirotvorets" (or "Peacemaker"), which was created by the Ukrainian security forces and "openly incites violent crimes" against people undesirable to Kiev, continues to operate unhindered, Zakharova pointed out.

In the diplomat’s opinion, such actions are carried out with the connivance of the West. "In addition to the direct involvement of the Ukrainian authorities in planning and committing the aforementioned and numerous other crimes, we should note in particular the deliberate inaction of specialized international human rights agencies," which the Zelensky regime sees as giving it carte blanche to continue such practices, she said.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier that it had thwarted an assassination attempt on the Tsargrad television channel’s founder. According to the FSB, the crime was masterminded by Denis Kapustin, born in 1984, a Russian national who is the founder and a leader of the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps. He was plotting to plant a makeshift explosive device under Malofeev’s car.

Criminal charges have been brought against Kapustin under articles 205 ("Terrorist Act"), 205.4 ("Participation in the Activities of a Terrorist Organization") and 222.1 ("Illegal Trafficking in Explosive Devices") of the Russian Criminal Code.