Putin soap opera: Plot to kill PM Vladimir Putin foiled

By msnbc.com staff and news services/

MOSCOW -- Russian and Ukrainian security services have foiled a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Russia's state television reported Monday.

Pro-government Channel One said that the suspects were plotting to kill Putin in Moscow immediately after the March 4 presidential election, in which he is all but certain to reclaim the presidency.

The report, which did not quote any named security officials, said Ukrainian special services had detained two people in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa after an explosion at a rented apartment in which one person was killed.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the report to the ITAR-Tass news agency, but refused to make any further comment.

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