Ukraine’s security agency, the SBU, said it has foiled an assassination plot targeting senior Ukrainian officials.

The saboteur group got a hit list from Russian intelligence agency, the GRU, that included defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov, intelligence agency head Kyrylo Budanov, and some ‘prominent activist’ whose identity was not revealed.

The plot was led by a Luhansk separatist militia member whose connections in underworld circles  helped him recruit a hitman for the job.

His call was answered by a still-to-be-named Kyiv resident – the man agreed to kill a Ukrainian serviceman who, according to the conspirators, was involved in torture of Russian POWs.

‘This murder was supposed to be a ‘pre-employment testing’ [for him] before main tasks of the enemy [came],’ said the SBU in its statement.

The saboteur group leader came to Ukraine via Belarus and was soon detained along with  his accomplice in Kovel. At the time of their arrest, Ukrainian operatives seized his Russian passport and  obtained the evidence of their foul plans.

The both men are now facing treason and conspiracy to murder charges.