Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has prevented the second attempt to kidnap and murder a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service, a member of the volunteer battalion in the anti-terrorist operation zone (ATO) Ilya Bogdanov.

"We have carried out the operation, related to the intentions of an organized criminal group, led from abroad, from Russia, to arrange the abduction and murder today of a peaceful citizen of Ukraine," the SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak said at a joint briefing with the General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko in Kyiv on Friday.

He said the well-known blogger is Ilya Bogdanov, a former employee of the FSB (Federal Security Service) of Russian Federation. .

According to Hrytsak, the previous attempt to kidnap and murder Bogdanov was prevented by security forces in February 2015. The killer detained in October 2015 was sentenced to eight years and a half in prison.

The SBU chief said that the killer was recruited by FSB officers in Belgorod (Russia).

As reported on Monday, Kyiv’s police communications department said that the law enforcers are searching for Bogdanov after his friends and acquaintances went to the police with a statement on his disappearance. They said the last time they talked to him was on November 12, 2016. A criminal investigation into his disappearance was opened pursuant to Article 115 (premeditated murder) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine along with the operational-investigative measures.