Two men have been arrested by police in London for an alleged plot to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to reports.
According to the Sunday Times, Russian citizens, believed to be renegade intelligence agents, were making plans to shoot Putin abroad.
Scotland Yard showed two Russian men had been detained and interrogated by counter-terrorism officials in London over five days.
“We can verify that two men aged over 40 and 36 were arrested through SO13 (the counter-terrorism branch) officials on the morning of Sunday 12 October in central London following allegations of breaches of the Terrorism Act 2000,” a spokeswoman said.
He added that the men were released on Friday without any further action, but refused to verify reports that this was happening on condition that they return to Russia.
SO13 was alerted when it won a detailed legal trial of a former intelligence officer of the Russian FSB, the main successor organization to the KGB, according to the newspaper.
The informant alleged that the two arrested men were trying to interact with Russian exiles in Britain in the plot to kill M. Putin.
One of the suspects, believed to be a former KGB commander, gave the informant the main plot points via a phone call, according to the newspaper.
But the informant feared that an attempt would be made to catch him by implicating him in the plot and reported the incident.
Published through Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of The Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and Metro Media Group