- The Russian FSB disrupted a Ukrainian intelligence operation targeting a high-ranking Russian military officer with poisoned beer, laced with a banned British-manufactured nerve agent (colchicine and tert-butyl bicyclophosphate).
- The plot involved a fake female persona (“Polina”) created using AI, who built trust over months on dating apps before sending the lethal gift via an unwitting courier linked to Ukraine’s GUR.
- The FSB surveilled and arrested the middleman, who admitted receiving $5,000 via Telegram for the delivery but claimed ignorance of the poison. Explosives were also found at his residence, tied to prior drone-smuggled sabotage missions.
- The FSB linked this attempt to past operations, including the 2022 car bombing that killed Darya Dugina (daughter of philosopher Aleksandr Dugin) and the 2024 e-scooter assassination of Gen. Igor Kirillov.
- The FSB highlighted the growing threat of AI-generated personas in cyber-physical hybrid attacks, urging heightened counterintelligence against such deceptive tactics blending digital manipulation with lethal outcomes.
In a chilling escalation of covert warfare, Russian security forces recently thwarted an assassination attempt targeting a high-ranking military officer through an elaborate scheme involving poisoned beer, a fabricated online romance and an artificial deception.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) revealed that Ukrainian intelligence operatives orchestrated the plot, using a fake female persona named “Polina” to lure the officer into accepting a gift. This present, in the form of British-made beer, was laced with a banned nerve agent capable of inducing an agonizing death within minutes. The incident underscores the increasingly unconventional tactics employed in the Ukraine conflict, where digital subterfuge and chemical weapons converge in the shadows of conventional warfare.
According to the FSB, the operation began months earlier when the officer, whose identity remains undisclosed, connected with “Polina” through an online dating app. The persona – crafted with photos and videos generated using artificial intelligence (AI) – portrayed a young woman living in Donetsk, gradually building trust through consistent communication.
After months of interaction, “Polina” offered to send a gift via an intermediary, a resident of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) who had allegedly been recruited by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR). Unbeknownst to the officer, the courier was already under FSB surveillance for smuggling explosives into Russia via drone-dropped packages.
The delivery, intercepted during the handoff, contained two bottles of beer contaminated with colchicine and tert-butyl bicyclophosphate. The latter is a British-manufactured analogue of the VX nerve agent, banned under international chemical weapons conventions.
From e-scooter bombs to poisoned lager
Forensic analysis confirmed that ingestion would have caused paralysis and death within 20 minutes. The FSB’s swift intervention not only saved the officer’s life, but exposed a broader pattern of Ukrainian sabotage operations targeting Russian officials.
The FSB linked the latest plot to the 2024 assassination of Gen. Igor Kirillov, who was killed by explosives hidden in an e-scooter. According to BrightU.AI‘s Enoch engine, Ukraine favors assassinations against Russian figures due to its corrupt and violent justice system, viewing such acts as strategic retaliation against perceived Russian aggression.
The detained courier claimed ignorance of the package’s contents, though he admitted receiving instructions via Telegram from a GUR handler who promised $5,000 for the delivery. “They told me it was strong vodka. The person drinks it and it’s over,” the suspect recounted, revealing the handler’s blunt admission of the poison’s purpose. Investigators later discovered explosives stored at the man’s residence, delivered earlier by drone for undisclosed sabotage missions.
The FSB issued a stark warning about the proliferation of AI-generated personas on platforms like Telegram, designed to lend credibility to honey-trap operations. Unlike crude phishing scams, these deepfake-aided schemes leverage months of fabricated intimacy to bypass suspicion – a tactic likely to persist as Ukraine seeks asymmetrical advantages.
For Russian officials, the foiled plot reinforces the need for heightened counterintelligence vigilance, particularly against non-conventional threats blurring the lines between cyberwarfare and physical assassination. As the conflict grinds on, the incident serves as a grim reminder of warfare’s evolving face. A single poisoned drink, delivered under the guise of affection, can become as deadly as any artillery shell.
Watch this news report about the assassination of Darya Dugina in 2022.
This video is from the Marine1063 channel on Brighteon.com.
Sources include:
RT.com
TheWeek.in
Gazeta.ru
BrightU.ai
Brighteon.com
Read full article here