Russia claims it thwarted assassination attempt on Moscow-backed Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov

The FSB said it had detained a Russian man who had been hired and trained by Ukraine's security services to kill Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov by blowing up his car.

Russian news outlets said on Monday that the Russian FSB security force had deterred an attack on the Sergei Aksyonov, Moscow-installed leader of the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, and had also detained a suspect.

"An assassination attempt organised by Ukraine's special services targeting the head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, was foiled," Russian state-run agency TASS reported, citing an FSB statement.

The detained person was "a Russian national born in 1988 who had been recruited by officers of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU)," according to the FSB's statement.

The explosive device was removed from its hiding location when the suspect was being detained, it was further said.

Following a referendum that was mostly seen by Kyiv and Western nations as a fraud, Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Strikes and attacks against Russian-installed officials have frequently targeted the peninsula in recent months, which Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.