Russian Federal Security Service claims to have foiled plot to attack Crimean Archbishop

According to RT on February 28, the attack was carried out on orders from Ukrainian military intelligence. One of the suspects is Mr. Tikhon’s assistant. This person received threats that his family would be killed if he refused to cooperate.

Specifically, in a statement on February 28, the FSB said it had arrested a Russian citizen and a Ukrainian citizen. Both confessed to being recruited in mid-2024 and receiving explosive devices in December 2024 through a location.

The two men are accused of planning an attack on Archbishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), head of the Simferopol and Crimea diocese, during his visit to Moscow. They were planning to flee Russia using forged documents provided by Ukrainian intelligence. The FSB also said it had seized an improvised explosive device and two fake Ukrainian passports from the suspects.

Several Russian news agencies also published a video of the Ukrainian suspect, who identified himself as Denis Popovich, saying he had worked as an assistant to Mr. Tikhon while secretly gathering information about him.

Popovich claimed that he was tasked by Kiev to recruit an accomplice to carry out the assassination, and said he was threatened that his family would be murdered if he refused to cooperate.

Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

According to Popovich, they were ordered to plant explosives in Mr. Tikhon's residential area at the Sretensky Monastery, one of the most historically and religiously important Orthodox sites in Moscow.

Mr. Tikhon is a close spiritual adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has never confirmed this, insisting that it is the Russian leader’s right to reveal who his spiritual guide is. His 2011 book “Everyday Saints and Other Stories” was a bestseller in Russia, with more than 2 million copies sold.