Wife of Putin assassination suspect shot dead in Kiev

A Ukrainian woman, the wife of a Chechen man accused by Russia of plotting to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead in Kiev on October 30.

On October 31, Reuters reported that Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisers announced that Adam Osmayev, a Chechen suspect in the assassination attempt on the Russian president, and his wife Amina Okuyeva (34 years old) were attacked near a railway junction on the outskirts of Kiev that same day.

These are two famous figures in Ukraine because they volunteered to join the army against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

"Amina Okuyeva and her husband Adam Osmayev were sitting in a car when they were shot from a bush near a railway crossing on the outskirts of Kiev. The wife was killed and the husband was wounded," Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisers Anton Gerashchenko and Zoryan Shkiryak wrote on Facebook.

Amina Okuyeva and her husband were attacked near Kiev on October 30. Photo: Reuters

The attack followed a car bomb in Kiev on October 26 that killed two people and injured three, including Ihor Mosiychuk, a member of the populist opposition Radical Party.

Okuyeva has ties to Mosiychuk, having worked for him as an adviser.

"Amina Okuyeva died due to serious injuries. Adam Osmayev was injured but is alive. I just spoke to him by phone," Reuters quoted Mr. Gerashchenko as saying.

Osmayev was accused by Russian authorities of participating in a plot to assassinate President Putin by bombing his motorcade in central Moscow in 2012.

Investigators work at the scene. Photo: Reuters

This is the second time Osmayev has survived. In June, he survived an attack by a gunman, but returned fire and wounded him. Osmayev is from Russia's predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya.

The motive for the attack is not yet clear, but Interior Ministry spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo said police would investigate the premeditated killing.

Relations between Kiev and Moscow have been at a low point since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Russia has fought two wars with separatists in Chechnya since 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

According to Dan Tri