Russia Arrests Suspects In Plot To Assassinate Military Leaders After Killing of Top Nuclear Officer

Russia claimed Thursday it had thwarted plots to kill top-ranking military officers by Ukrainian intelligence services and have made several arrests - an announcement that comes a week after a Russian general was killed in a bombing in Moscow, according to reports.

The Federal Security Service, known by the acronym FSB and the successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had arrested four Russian citizens in the scheme to assassinate Russian officers and their families by using bombs, Reuters reported.

The Russian citizens accused of taking part in the plot were recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services, Reuters reported.

"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Defense Ministry," the FSB said in a statement, Reuters reported.

"Four Russian citizens involved in the preparation of these attacks have been detained," the statement continued.

The FSB said the conspiracy included killing one of the senior officers by using a remotely controlled car bomb, and another officer was to be targeted with an explosive device hidden in an envelope, the Associated Press reported.

The Russian military officials singled out were not identified.

Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces, was killed Dec. 17 when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter was detonated outside his apartment in Moscow.

Ukraine's security service said that Kirillov was "responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons" against Ukrainian troops and considered a war criminal.