Vladimir Putin-backing newspaper claims gunman who killed two in rampage at FSB headquarters could have been ‘working’ for British intelligence
- Yevgeny Manyurov, 39, was shot dead after killing 2 FSB officers and injuring 5
- Russian police are scrambling to find the motive for the 19 December attack
- Popular newspaper has given credence to theory that MI6 were involved
Yevgeny Manyurov, 39, was shot dead after killing two FSB officers and wounding five people
A bizarre bid to link British intelligence to a gunman who stormed the Lubyanka headquarters of Russia’s FSB security services is being made by the pro-Kremlin media.
Yevgeny Manyurov, 39, was shot dead after killing two FSB officers and wounding five people.
Russian state investigators are scrambling to find the motive for the 19 December gun club member’s attack.
A post-death psychological analysis of the man has been ordered.
But pro-Kremlin Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) – Russia’s largest newspaper – has now given credence to a conspiracy theory claiming that security guard Manyurov could have been ‘working’ for British intelligence.
The apparent smear is based on claims that around a decade ago he was employed by a company linked to British security giant G4S.
KP followed up a story by ‘news agency’ RIA FAN which alleged that ‘for a long time Manyurov could have been under the close attention of Western, particularly British, secret services linked to G4S’.
Both publications pointed to G4S operative Omar Mateen who killed 49 people and wounded 53 in a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016, before he was shot dead by police.
Shooter Yevgeny Manyurov is pictured near Lubyanka building in Moscow on 19 December wielding an automatic weapon
Yevgeny Prigozhin, pictured in an undated photo, is linked to ‘propagandist outlet’ RIA FAN, who are suspected to be behind ‘troll factories’ placing pro-Russian and anti-Western messages on social media
RIA FAN is seen as a propagandist outlet linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Vladimir Putin’s ‘chef’ who became close to the strongman after organising Kremlin banquets.
Prigozhin is believed to be behind ‘troll factories’ placing pro-Russian and anti-Western messages on social media.
KP reported it was checking the ‘rumour’ and ‘conspiracy version’ that the Lubyanka shooter ‘could be working for British intelligence.’
It wanted to establish if he was ‘a solo psychopath…or a pawn in some global game’.
Shooter Yevgeny Manyurov can be seen walking outside of the Lubyanka building in Moscow
Special forces were drafted in to ‘neutralise’ the attacker, who was later seen lifeless and covered in blood on the pavement (pictured)
At about the same time as the shooting happened, Putin (pictured centre with other Russian officials on December 19), a KGB veteran, made a speech at a Kremlin concert for FSB and other Russian security personnel
It concluded the British intelligence link was ‘plausible’, though no credible evidence is given, but acknowledged other theories rebut it entirely.
The Moscow reports echo claims the British secret services staged the attack on ex-GRU agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.
Britain has alleged that GRU staff agents carried out the horrific chemical weapon attack.
There are separate claims that Manyurov’s CV shows he guarded the military mission of the UAE in Moscow.
Other theories have linked the killer to a nationalist pan-Slavic group from Ukraine, and other extremist groups.
The Russian Investigative Committee and FSB are investigating the Manyurov attack.