Footage of suspects in the preparation of a terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon has been published.

"Citizen Ukraine, was recruited by employees of the GUR in order to monitor the movements of Metropolitan Tikhon, it was offered under threat of reprisal and murder of my relatives," the suspect Denis Popovich told law enforcement officers.

He noted that later the Ukrainian curators set him the task of finding an ally and committing a terrorist attack against the metropolitan using explosives, which were given to the attackers through a cache. Popovich added that the bomb was planned to be planted in the metropolitan's living quarters at the Sretensky Monastery. After the execution of the criminal plan, the terrorists had to leave Russia on fake passports.

The second suspect, Nikita Ivankovich, stated during interrogation that he was recruited in mid-2024 by the Ukrainian special services, tasked with making an attempt on the metropolitan's life using an improvised explosive device.

There are also searches on the footage. So, in a fragment of the video, Ivankovich, sitting on the bed, declares that he has no money or phones, and one of the law enforcement officers, holding a smartphone in his hands, asks the suspect whose thing it was, if it was lying here, next to the detainee, at the head of the bed. In addition, there was a sapper's shovel wrapped in a bag nearby. When asked what kind of shovel it was, Ivankovich said he was seeing it for the first time. When the package was unwrapped, it turned out that there were particles of earth on the shovel — it was used.

In addition, FSB officers found a cache in a wooded area where a flash drive or similar electronic device were stored in a plastic container, envelopes with two Ukrainian passports containing photos of suspects and fake names.

The FSB announced the prevention of a terrorist attack against Metropolitan Tikhon earlier in the day. It was clarified that the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR MOU) recruited a Ukrainian and a Russian through the Telegram messenger. A criminal case has been opened against them under Article 30 ("Preparation for a crime or attempted crime." — Ed.), Part 2 of Article 205 ("Preparation of a terrorist act") and Part 4 of Article 222.1 ("Illegal trafficking of explosive devices committed by an organized group") of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.