Ukraine Extradites ‘Putin Plot’ Suspect To Russia
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Ukraine has extradited to Russia one of two men who were allegedly plotting to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian television’s Channel One said on August 25 that Ilya Pyanzin, who is a national of Kazakhstan, had been brought to Moscow.
Pyanzin was detained in Odessa in February after he was injured in an accidental explosion of a hand-made bomb that killed his associate.
Pyanzin’s detention led to the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the plot Adam Osmayev, a Chechen, whose extradition to Russia was halted last week at the request of the European Court for Human Rights.
Reports about the alleged plot to kill Putin surfaced days before Russia’s March 4 presidential election, prompting skeptics to say the plot was fabricated and timed to raise Putin’s popularity ratings before the vote.
