Russian general blasted in the face by bomb-rigged cellphone in failed assassination plot
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By Snejana Farberov
Published Sep. 5, 2023
Updated Sep. 5, 2023, 12:38 p.m. ET
A Russian general was seriously injured by an exploding cellphone used in a failed assassination attempt by Ukraine’s Security Service, according to local reports.
Major-General Yuri Afanasevskii, a former chairman of the State Customs Committee of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, was blown up at his home in the occupied region Sunday.
He had been handed a bomb-rigged phone that detonated as soon as it was activated, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Afanasevskii was rushed to the hospital with serious shrapnel wounds to his head, neck and stomach, sources with Ukraine’s Security Services told RBC-Ukraine.
The general’s 21-year-old son was also injured — and had to have three fingers amputated, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.
Luhansk officials downplayed the severity of Afanasevskii’s injuries, telling Tass that he “is alive and well.”
Sources told the outlets it was an assassination attempt orchestrated by Ukraine’s secret service.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said a woman has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly handing Afanasevskii the explosive-laden cellphone.
The female suspect has already confessed to her role in the failed assassination plot allegedly masterminded by Ukraine’s intelligence operatives, the reports said.
Afanasevskii served in Russia’s much-feared Federal Security Service (FSB) — the successor to the KGB — and allegedly acted as a “financier” to Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the Luhansk People’s Republic.
The FSB general was said to have laundered money to bankroll pro-Russian paramilitary groups that fought against Kyiv’s forces.
Afanasevskii had previously been sanctioned by the European Union, Britain, Canada, Switzerland and Japan.
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