Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has witnessed a major scandal that pitted the country’s two main security and intelligence structures – the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense (GUR) – against each other, culminating in an armed clash on the street. According to information reflected in investigation files, the target of the assassination plot prepared on the instructions of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) was Akhmed Zakayev, Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

The Assassination Plot and the Target

In an official statement issued by the SBU, it was reported that Russian intelligence planned an assassination attempt against Akhmed Zakayev, the leader of the Chechen government-in-exile, in Kyiv, seizing the opportunity presented by his visit on August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day.

According to the allegations, the individual accused of organizing the assassination attempt is Stepan Kaplunov, Deputy Commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), who was fighting under the umbrella of the Timur Special Unit within GUR. The SBU claimed that Kaplunov, who is of Russian origin, established contact with the FSB and agreed to eliminate several high-ranking officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine alongside Zakayev in exchange for money. To support these claims, the security service shared a video of Kaplunov confessing to the crime, along with messaging logs found on his phone.

Allegations of Torture and “Abduction”

The scale of the scandal took a different turn following statements from the suspect Stepan Kaplunov and his lawyer Taras Borovsky. Kaplunov claimed that on August 23, he was abducted from outside his home in Kyiv by plainclothes individuals identifying themselves as police officers, taken blindfolded to a secret detention facility, and kept chained for days.

Maintaining that the confession video published by the SBU was recorded under coercion, torture, and death threats, Kaplunov stated he had no connection to the FSB. Kaplunov and the defense argued that the SBU attempted to discredit military intelligence and field commanders through him with this maneuver.

Two Intelligence Agencies Clashed in the Streets of Kyiv

The sequence of events escalated into an armed altercation between SBU and GUR personnel in the Bereznyaki neighborhood of Kyiv. SBU teams, taking the detained Kaplunov with them, raided the house where Kaplunov stayed with his colleagues to conduct a search. When the soldiers inside reported the situation to their commanders, numerous GUR personnel were dispatched to the location, blocking the exit of the SBU vehicles.

As tensions escalated in the morning, members of the “Alfa” special operations unit within the SBU opened fire, resulting in three GUR officers being shot and wounded. While one of the injured was reported to be in critical condition, GUR sources claimed that the SBU personnel who opened fire included individuals previously involved in similar internal conflict incidents.

Stern Reaction from Top Ukrainian Leadership

The street clash between two state agencies caused severe alarm within the Ukrainian leadership. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized the events as “an absolute disgrace” and ordered a comprehensive investigation. Following initial reviews, Oleg Hramov, Head of the Department for the Protection of State Secrets and Licensing at the SBU, was dismissed from his post.

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Prosecutor General’s Office launched extensive criminal and administrative investigations, while the Ukrainian Parliament’s Defense and Intelligence Committee summoned the leaders of both institutions to a closed-door session.

A Secret Plan Unraveled by a Google Translate Fiasco

This latest assassination plot detected against Akhmed Zakayev is not Russian intelligence’s first attempt targeting the Chechen leader. In a previously uncovered assassination plot, an absurd fiasco involving Russian agents entered intelligence history.

According to details revealed by international investigative journalism networks, Russian intelligence established a secret unit named “Center 795” and allocated a $1.5 million budget to eliminate Akhmed Zakayev and his family. The operation was headed by Denis Alimov. A former Russian security officer, Alimov is a Russian-born officer who previously served in OMON, the special police unit of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the elite “Alfa” special operations unit of the Federal Security Service (FSB). Having personal and operational connections with the Kadyrov regime established by the Kremlin in Russian-occupied Chechnya, Alimov served in a unit coordinating operations and assassination plans against Chechen dissidents within the Russian General Staff and the FSB.

When communicating with a Serbo-Croatian-speaking hitman he sought to hire, Alimov translated instructions and target locations using Google Translate. Although they used encrypted messaging applications, the agents routed translations through Google’s servers, bringing them onto the radar of US intelligence (FBI). By monitoring the text passing through Google Translate servers in real time, the assassination plot against Zakayev was deciphered second by second. Traveling to Bogotá to manage the operation via Colombia, Russian agent Alimov was handcuffed at the airport through the joint operation of Interpol and the FBI.

A Years-Long Hit List: Past Assassination Attempts Against Zakayev

An examination of the history of threats against Akhmed Zakayev clearly illustrates the determination of the Kremlin and the Ramzan Kadyrov regime—which carries out the Kremlin’s dirty work—to eliminate the Chechen leader, as well as the immense scale of this threat. In 2006, during the investigation into the murder of former FSB agent Aleksandr Litvinenko, who was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London, Scotland Yard revealed that Zakayev ranked second on the FSB’s hit list in the UK; the Chechen leader was immediately relocated to safehouses to protect him from a potential poison attack.

As the threat escalated following the day-light shooting of Kadyrov’s former bodyguard Umar Israilov on a street in Vienna in 2009, European assassination cells were dismantled after it was determined that the hitman network’s next target was Zakayev. Similarly, in 2012, the British MI5 service identified an agent codenamed “E1,” who had previously served as a close bodyguard to Aslan Maskhadov but later switched allegiances, struck a deal with the Kadyrov regime, and infiltrated London. While this agent—who lived near Zakayev’s home and leaked security protocols to Russian intelligence—was deported, the Chechen leader was placed under 24-hour protection.

The recent Kyiv scandal targeting Akhmed Zakayev, against whom Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly declared an open “blood feud,” once again underscores the dangerous scale of Russia and the puppet structures under its command.