Akhmat Zakayev
-
Ukraine's SBU says it foiled alleged FSB plot to kill Chechen exile Zakayev; shootout with GUR in Kyiv sparks inter-agency crisis
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced on 3 September that it had prevented an alleged FSB-ordered plot to assassinate Akhmed Zakayev, the exiled head of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's government, who had travelled to Kyiv for Independence Day on 24 August. The SBU named Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov as the alleged organizer. The case triggered a shootout between SBU and military intelligence (GUR) operatives in Kyiv's Berezniaky district on 2 September that left three GUR personnel wounded, and has escalated into an open clash between the two agencies over who is telling the truth about what happened.