A Moscow man has alleged in a video confession that he was recruited by Ukraine to assassinate Tucker Carlson.
The video, which has not been verified or authenticated, shows a man named Vasiliev Pyotr Alexeievich claiming he was trained and recruited by the Ukrainian government to plant an explosive device in a hotel parking garage in Moscow to assassinate an unknown target, who he later learned was Tucker Carlson.
“In November 2023, I was recruited by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine,” he said in prepared remarks.
“I was trained in working with special communications, collecting, and detonating explosive devices. On January 31, I received a task from the curator to pick up an explosive device from a hiding place and use it to blow up a car.”
BREAKING: Russian Counter-Terrorism Unit Thwarts Assassination Attempt on @TuckerCarlson.
A Moscow man was arrested for allegedly accepting payment from Ukrainian intelligence to plant an explosive on Tucker Carlson’s vehicle, targeting the American journalist during his… pic.twitter.com/qpFyGVI85k
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) February 26, 2024
When asked during the supposed interrogation by Russia’s anti-terrorism unit where he was supposed to plant the explosive device, he said, “In the underground parking of the Four Seasons hotel in Moscow. I was supposed to pick up the explosive device from a hiding place and place it under the car.”
When asked how much he was paid to carry out the assassination attempt, Alexeievich replied, “Four thousand dollars.”
Though he said he initally “wasn’t told” who the target was, he later learned it was journalist Tucker Carlson, a vocal critic of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I was detained at the preparation stage,” he said.
The alleged assassination attempt comes following reports that Carlson was added to Ukraine’s so-called “kill list” for conducting his wide-ranging interview with Russian Vladimir Putin.
The Democrats, the UK, Hillary Clinton, and Ukraine’s government all characterized Carlson as a traitor to the U.S. over his interview with Putin.