FSB arrests assistant to ‘Putin’s confessor’ for alleged plot to kill him

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Friday that it had foiled an attack on Metropolitan Tikhon of Simferopol and Crimea, a high-profile Russian priest believed to be Vladimir Putin’s personal confessor.

Tikhon’s assistant, Denis Popovich, a Ukrainian resident in Russia, was named by the FSB as a suspect in the alleged plot, which it said had been ordered by the Ukrainian intelligence services and involved planting and detonating a bomb in Tikhon’s cells in the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow. Nikita Ivankovich, a Moscow-based priest of Ukrainian origin, was also arrested.

Independent media outlet Agentstvo said that both suspects had previously attended events where Tikhon was present, adding that Ivankovich had also appeared on a database of Anti-Corruption Foundation supporters.

“The detainees confessed to being recruited in mid-2024 to eliminate Metropolitan Tikhon. They received an improvised explosive device (IED) via a dead drop in December and planned to commit the crime when the metropolitan visited Moscow,” the FSB said in a statement.

A criminal case has been opened against the men for preparing a terrorist attack and the illegal trafficking of explosive devices. During their arrest, an IED and two fake Ukrainian passports were seized, according to the FSB, which also claimed that both men had repeatedly sent money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine since mid-2022.

Novaya Gazeta reported on Thursday that the two men were taken into custody on 12 February and are currently in pretrial detention in Moscow.

Tikhon, who for over 20 years was the superior of the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow, was made metropolitan of Russian-annexed Crimea in 2023, and while he is frequently referred to as “Putin’s confessor” in the media, Tikhon has himself said that despite advising Putin on Christianity, he knows him “only a little”.