February 27, 2012, 7:23 pm

Russian Television Report Describes Plot to Kill Putin

By ROBERT MACKEY

A Russian state television report on what the authorities described as a plot to kill Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

As my colleague Michael Schwirtz reports, Russian state television reported on Monday that the intelligence services of Russia and Ukraine foiled a plot to assassinate Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, who is expected to win a presidential election this week.
A video from the original, Russian-language report by the state broadcaster was also used by Russia Today, a Kremlin-financed satellite news channel that broadcasts in English.

The report showed one of the suspects, identified as a Chechen named Adam Osmayev, describing the plot, with a green ointment used to treat wounds covering his face.
The timing of the report, less than a week before the Russian presidential election on Sunday, but weeks after the two main suspects were arrested, prompted skepticism from Mr. Putin’s critics, who accused the security services of fabricating the plot.
One leader of the recent anti-Putin street protests, Yevgeniya Chirikova, told The Guardian that the plot was “part of a clear election campaign.” She added: “It’s to bring attention to Vladimir Putin, and to develop this idea that there’s a threat everywhere. It’s a spectacle.”
According to Monday’s state television report, the authorities said Doku Umarov, a militant Chechen leader, was behind the plot. Earlier this month, Mr. Umarov issued a video message ordering his followers to refrain from attacks on civilians, because “recent events show that the people of Russia do not support Putin.”
Immediately after the last presidential election in Russia, in March 2008, a Russian newspaper reported that the security services had disrupted a plot to assassinate Mr. Putin on election day. As Agence France-Presse reported at the time, “The newspaper did not cite any sources but gave a detailed account about the arrest of a Tajik national with a sniper rifle in a raid on a rented apartment near Red Square just hours before Putin was due to give a speech there.”
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