Moscow (CNN) -- A plot to assassinate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been foiled, Russia's state-run Channel One TV reported Monday, less than a week before presidential elections that Putin is expected to win.
Citing unnamed sources, the report said a group of plotters was arrested in the Ukrainian city of Odessa in early January and, after weeks of questioning, confessed to planning to kill the Russian leader.
The TV report included what it said was a confession by Adam Osmayev, a fixer associated with the two men who were seized in Odessa.
"Our final goal was to come to Moscow and try to organize an attempt on Prime Minister Putin," Osmayev said.
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He said they plan involved military-grade land mines to blow up vehicles.
Ukraine's domestic security agency, the FSB, uncovered the plot after an explosion at an apartment building in Odessa, killing one of the plotters and injuring another, Channel One said. The survivor tipped them off to Osmayev's involvement, the report said.
The plotter who was killed was allegedly willing to be a suicide bomber, and the mission was organized by Chechen militant leader Doku Umarov, Channel One reported.
CNN has not independently confirmed the existence of the plot.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that he confirmed the TV report but would not comment on it.
The Russian FSB declined to answer CNN questions about the alleged plot.
The announcement comes a week ahead of this Sunday's presidential election.
Putin handed over the presidency to ally Dmitry Medvedev in 2008, when he was barred from seeking a third consecutive term. After spending four years as prime minister, he announced in December that he would seek the presidency again.
Putin has dominated Russian politics since 1999, and human rights groups say civil liberties and democratic freedoms have suffered during his rule. But opponents took to the streets by the thousands after his United Russia party won a narrow majority in December parliamentary elections that monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said were "slanted in favor of the ruling party."
The leading opposition candidate in the March 3 vote is Russia's third-richest man, billionaire New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
Critics of Putin showed up in the thousands on Sunday in a show of strength ahead of the election. They attempted to complete a circuit of Moscow's 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) "Garden Ring" road, but fell short.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted police as saying 11,000 people turned out Sunday, far below the estimated 34,000 needed to complete the human chain.

Addressing tens of thousands of supporters in Moscow late on Sunday, a tearful Putin said the Russian people had clearly rejected the attempts of unidentified enemies to "destroy Russia's statehood and usurp power".

"The Russian people have shown today that such scenarios will not succeed in our land," said Putin, flanked by outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev. "They shall not pass!"

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/03/201234174822513879.html?utm_content=automateplus&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_term=tweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount


I didn't realize Putin was running against Balrogs.

It would certainly be a mistake to beat Putin in an arm wrestling match.