Russian 'Jackal accused of planning to assassinate Putin and Medvedev'

In a scene reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth's thriller The Day Of The Jackal, Kremlin agents seized a man with a sniper rifle from a flat overlooking Red Square, according to Moscow's Tvoi Den newspaper.

The arrest came as Putin and Medvedev were staging a victory rally following the presidential elections on March 2.

Such a story was unlikely to have been published in the Kremlin-controlled media unless it had been cleared by senior officials, and tabloid Tvoi Den is known to have good contacts in the government and the secret services.

But last night, Russian news agency Interfax quoted an official from the FSB – the secret service successor of the KGB – describing the report as "absolutely false", claiming the arrests were connected to an organised crime gang.

Tvoi Den, however, published a detailed account of the murder plot, naming the gunman as Shakhvelad Osmanov, from Tajikistan.

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It claimed he had rented an apartment with a view of the platform from which Putin and Medvedev spoke shortly after the polls closed.

"For an experienced marksman, both would have been easy targets," the newspaper said.

When security officers raided the apartment four hours before Putin was due to speak, they detained 24-year-old Osmanov and recovered an "arsenal of firearms", including a foreign-made sniper rifle and a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The paper, which cited unnamed officials, said Osmanov – who has been charged with firearms offences – was not thought to be the mastermind behind the plot and no motive was suggested.

Ex-KGB chief Putin has made many enemies during his eight years in power, among them rebels in war-ravaged Chechnya.

Current FSB head Nikolai Patrushev said last week that his organisation had foiled "terrorist attacks" during the election campaign.

There was no comment from Tvoi Den last night.

Forsyth's 1971 book describes an attempt by a killer known as The Jackal to assassinate French president Charles De Gaulle using a sniper rifle.

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