Moscow, November 13, 2025
Photo: pln24.ru
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) believes that the Kiev regime’s primary goal in planning an assassination attempt against His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Simferopol and Crimea earlier this year was to disrupt negotiations between Russia and the United States on resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
“According to experts, the main goal of this sabotage-terrorist act was to disrupt negotiations between Russia and the United States on the issue of resolving the Ukrainian conflict. At the same time, the Kiev regime was counting on the fact that if the terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon was successfully carried out, the Russian side would be forced to abandon peace talks,” the FSB stated on Wednesday, reports RIA-Novosti.
The FSB announced that it obtained new evidence against suspects in the case during searches and interrogations conducted on Tuesday, November 11, in Moscow, the Pskov Province, and Crimea—places where Met. Tikhon has served.
Investigators conducted searches and interrogations of individuals in the close circle of the case’s defendants. The FSB stated that evidence confirming the involvement of Denis Popovich and Nikita Ivankovich in the crimes they are charged with was obtained. Propaganda materials of a terrorist organization banned in Russia were also seized.
The FSB first announced on February 28 of this year that it had prevented a terrorist attack in Moscow against Met. Tikhon, believed to have been planned by Ukrainian intelligence services. According to the Security Service, the assassination was being prepared by his assistant, Ukrainian citizen Denis Popovich, and Moscow Reader Nikita Ivankovich. The suspects are believed to have been recruited by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate through Telegram. According to security officials, an improvised explosive device was transferred to them through a dead drop in December 2024.
The attack was planned to be carried out while Met. Tikhon was in Moscow. The detained assistant Popovich stated that the explosives were to be installed in Sretensky Monastery. He said he was threatened with the murder of relatives if he refused to carry out the terrorist attack. After committing the crime, the suspects planned to leave Russia using forged documents. An improvised explosive device and two forged Ukrainian passports were seized from them.
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