Ukrainian security services said on Monday they had thwarted another Russian plot to stomp on public unrest and use the resulting unrest to topple the government, outlining familiar tactics that Kiev says have been used in a series of failed coup attempts in recent years.
Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency, the SBU, said it had found a “group” of conspirators who allegedly planned to riot, seize the parliament building and replace the country’s military and civilian leadership. Four people have been arrested and charged, authorities said.
Officials offered few details about how such an ambitious plan would have worked, but said it was a reminder that more than two years after launching a full-scale invasion of the country, the Kremlin remains determined to topple President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government by any means necessary.
On the battlefield, Russia hopes to wear down the Ukrainian military and Kiev’s Western backers, and continues to send tens of thousands of new soldiers to the front lines to replace those killed, while at the same time Russia’s relentless bombing of Ukraine’s vital infrastructure is aimed in part at sapping the economy and undermining the state’s ability to function.
Ukrainian and Western officials say the Kremlin has for years orchestrated covert operations aimed at destabilizing the government in Kiev, in some cases trying to stomp on discontent through disinformation.
The plot revealed Monday by Ukraine’s domestic intelligence and prosecutors fits exactly that pattern.
According to Ukrainian officials, it was scheduled to start with violence.
Organizers, described as agents working for Russia, had planned to hold a “peaceful rally in the center of the capital,” SBU spokesman Artyom Devtyarenko said.
Devtyarenko said most of those who gathered would “know nothing” about the plans. If attendance reached several thousand, the organizers “planned to spread information about the unrest in Kiev through domestic and international sources,” he said.
“In this way, they tried to undermine the socio-political situation in our country and tilt it in Russia’s favor,” he said in a statement.
The defendants also planned to use the opportunity to “announce the removal from power of the current military and political leadership of Ukraine” and said they wanted to “occupy” the parliament building and “thwart its activities.”
The difficulty of storming and securing a heavily guarded government building raises questions about the feasibility of the plan and how far along it was, but beyond the details, officials said the plan was aimed at creating an atmosphere of chaos that could undermine confidence in government.
Ukraine’s chief prosecutor said four people have been indicted and notified of suspected treason, and two have been held in pre-trial detention as a “precautionary measure.”
In line with state policy, the defendants were not named. Prosecutors said the organizers were “representatives of a civil servants’ union with experience of taking part in previously unsuccessful provocative events.”
“He rented a hall in Kiev capable of seating 2,000 people and sought out military and armed guards from civilian buildings to carry out the takeover of parliament,” prosecutors said.
The suspects’ identities are unknown, so their lawyers and other representatives could not be reached for comment.
But the plan shared similarities with a series of other attempts reported by Ukrainian security services even before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
For example, in November 2021, Zelensky said at a press conference that his country’s security services The plot was thwarted To overthrow his government.
Just a month before the Kremlin ordered a full-scale invasion, the British government announced that Moscow was pursuing plans to engineer a coup in Ukraine to install a pro-Russian leader.
At the time, intelligence officials publicly voiced concerns about Russian interference in Ukrainian affairs and said they were trying to prevent further escalation of tensions.
That didn’t work.
When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, one of their first missions, according to Ukrainian and Western officials, was to Assassinate Zelensky.
The attempt to unseat the government failed, but Zelenskiy received more than 10 criminal complaints from security services earlier this year. Attempt on his life since then.
In May, Ukrainian security services arrested two Ukrainian colonels and accused them of involvement in an elaborate plot to assassinate the president and other top leaders.
The plan outlined on Monday was in line with Zelenskiy’s broader operation. warned in NovemberHe said Moscow was stepping up its covert operations to stoke discord through disinformation and covert operations.
Zelenskiy said the operation was codenamed “Maidan-3,” a reference to Kiev’s central square that was the scene of 2004 protests and the 2014 uprising that led to the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
