Putin sends spook to peace talks with Ukrainian spymaster he 'plotted to assassinate'

Detailed summary

Revealed: How Putin scuppered Ukraine peace talks by sending his delegation with a spymaster for face-to-face with a man he allegedly plotted to assassinate

Vladimir Putin sent one of his shady spook chiefs to peace talks to meet with the same Ukrainian spymaster he has been accused of plotting to assassinate.

Putin’s spy chief Dmitry Minaev, head of counter intelligence at the FSB, met Ukraine's former head of intelligence Kyrylo Budanov for peace talks over the past two days - seven years after Minaev is alleged to have plotted to kill Budanov.

The Kremlin leader's casting for the Russian delegation is being widely seen as an indication he does not want to end the war and was trying to scupper the chance of peace as both men were forced to come face-to-face.

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Minaev’s men are alleged to have tried to plant a bomb beneath Budanov’s car in Kyiv in 2019 but it exploded as it was being installed and two would-be assassins were arrested.

After the incident, Ukrainian officials interviewed by The Wall Street Journal linked Minayev’s department to the unsuccessful attempt to kill Budanov, who went on to head Kyiv intelligence and is now adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky.

One security source told the Mirror: “The Kremlin will have planned who to send to the next negotiation weeks in advance and deploying Minaev will have been deliberate.

“It is much harder to strike a peace agreement and make compromises if you know the chap on the other side of the table has tried to blow you to bits.”

As the meeting ended Ukraine and Russia agreed to their largest-ever prisoner swap as talks aimed at ending the war ended after two days.

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