Putin Ally in ‘Serious Condition’ Following Assassination Attempt in Crimea

An attempt was made on the life of Oleg Tsaryov, a Ukrainian-born pro-Russia politician, in annexed Crimea, state-run media reported on Friday.

Tsaryov is in serious condition, according to Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-backed official in the annexed southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. He said Tsaryov was shot, not stabbed, as conflicting reports about the assassination attempt circulated on social media.

The former Ukrainian lawmaker had been named as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s possible choice to lead regime change in Kyiv, a Western intelligence official told the Financial Times in an interview published on February 14, 2022, days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Tsaryov had dismissed the possibility that he was handpicked by Putin to run a puppet government in Kyiv.

“Oleg’s condition is very serious. He is currently in intensive care. There was no stabbing. Oleg was shot,” Rogov wrote on his Telegram channel, asking his subscribers to pray for the official.

He didn’t state where the shooting had taken place.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on the incident. Newsweek has been unable to independently verify Rogov’s claims and has contacted the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment via email.

Russian military correspondent Yuri Kotenok also reported on Friday that Tsaryov is in intensive care with a gunshot wound, and that his condition is serious.

And a law enforcement source told Russian news outlet Kommersant that Tsaryov was “attacked,” without elaborating.

Russian media reported that ambulances arrived at Tsaryov’s home in Yalta, in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, overnight on Friday. A 16-second video published by news outlet PolitNavigator on social media platform VKontakte showed one ambulance and an emergency cordon, reportedly outside the official’s home.

Tsaryov was formerly a deputy of the Ukrainian parliament and has been sentenced by Ukraine in absentia to 12 years in prison for calling for separatism.

He has actively supported Russia since 2014, when Putin illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk started clashing with Kyiv’s forces.

Strikes in Crimea, which is Russia’s central logistics hub for its forces in southern Ukraine, have become routine in recent months amid Kyiv’s counteroffensive to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to undo Putin’s annexation of Crimea.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.