Shooting in Kyiv: The SBU Said Deputy Commander of the RDK Kaplunov Worked for the FSB — and Showed the Correspondence

The Security Service of Ukraine 3 stated in September that the deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps had contacts with the Russian special services and received an assignment to prepare an assassination of one of the leaders of the Russian opposition movement. According to the security agency, the crime was being prepared for the order of the FSB and was supposed to take place on Independence Day. The official allegedly also received a task to eliminate other servicemen of the Forces of Defense for a monetary reward. The SBU clarified that the situation that led to the shooting between security forces is being investigated by the DBR (State Bureau of Investigation).

This was announced by the SBU press service; the agency did not specify the suspect’s name, but it refers to Stepan Kaplunov. The statement notes that as part of counterintelligence work, the service received operational information about the planned murder and timely thwarted the preparation of the crime. After that, Kaplunov underwent a series of counter-intelligence checks during which he admitted contacts with the FSB and began cooperating with the investigation. The SBU released a video of Kaplunov, in which he confesses to working for the FSB.

“The Security Service documented in the defendant’s phone his correspondence with a representative of the FSB,” the U.S.S.U (Security Service of Ukraine) press release states.

The SBU explained that precisely because a serviceman admitted contacts with the FSB and cooperated with the investigation, no preventive measure was applied to him. At the same time, while SBU officers carried out urgent investigative actions to gather evidence, a conflict arose, which led to the shooting. The agency emphasized that this “should not have happened” and noted they are providing maximum assistance to the State Bureau of Investigation, which is now handling the incident.

For reference, Stepan Kaplunov is a Russian national who has been fighting on the side of Ukraine since 2014. He joined the Russian Volunteer Corps and held the post of deputy commander of the corps for combat operations, i.e., he was directly responsible for conducting operations of the unit at the front.

Details of the thwarted assassination of an opposition figure have been revealed.

Even before this statement, it was known that the SBU and the Main Directorate of Intelligence thwarted a terrorist attack that the FSB was preparing against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political national movement who arrived in Ukraine for Independence Day. There were no casualties among Ukrainian citizens or foreign guests at that time, and the security services did not disclose details about the opposition figure and the specific scenario of the terrorist act in the interests of the investigation.

Now the SBU linked this operation to the deputy commander of the RDK, noting that it was his contacts with Russian security services that became the reason for counterintelligence measures, during which the armed clash with representatives of the GUR occurred.

Earlier, Informator reported that during the shootout in Kyiv, a SBU officer opened fire, who, according to MP Fedor Venislavsky, is suspected of killing the GUR agent Denis Kiryeyev in 2022 year.

We also wrote that the RDK commander Kapustin commented on Kaplunov’s arrest, after which the shooting occurred, and stated that no suspicious items were found in the detainee’s apartment.