Russian president, Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt not long after starting his war in Ukraine, the country’s intelligence chief has claimed.
Kyrylo Budanov claimed Putin was ‘attacked.. by representatives of the Caucasus,’ a region that includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of southern Russia around two months ago.
‘[It was an] Absolutely unsuccessful attempt, but it really happened… It was about 2 months ago,’ Budanov said. ‘I repeat, this attempt was unsuccessful. There was no publicity about this event, but it took place.’
If true, it would be the only known attempt on Putin’s life since the war against Ukraine began on February 24.
Budanov did not directly link the assassination attempt to the Ukraine war, and Putin has a number of well-established enemies in the region from previous conflicts.
Putin has previously claimed he has escaped numerous assassination attempts.
In 2017, Putin told filmmaker Oliver Stone that there had been five assassination attempts against him – and the only reason he is alive is because he deals with his own security personally.
‘I do my job and the security officers do theirs and they are still performing quite successfully,’ Putin said in the documentary ‘The Putin Interviews’.
Putin is said to travel with his own sniper squad whose role is to locate any shooters and kill them before they are able to pull the trigger on Putin.
