Vladimir Putin has vowed to seek revenge on those behind the killing of one of his top generals after a deadly Ukrainian drone strike in the Mediterranean.
In a chilling Moscow end of year address, the Kremlin boss declared that “Russia is certainly going to respond”.
This comes after unconfirmed Ukrainian reports suggest several senior Russian officials were killed in a strike on Russia’s shadow fleet, including a GRU general accused of orchestrating the Salisbury poisoning.
The general in question is Andrey Averyanov, a senior figure in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service and has long been linked by Western investigators to some of Moscow‘s most notorious covert operations abroad.
He is widely identified as the former commander of GRU Unit 29155, an elite clandestine cell accused of carrying out assassinations, bombings and destabilisation campaigns across Europe on behalf of the Kremlin.
Unconfirmed reports circulating on a pro-Ukraine Telegram channel have now claimed the 60-year-old was killed in the strike.
A post read: “According to preliminary [unconfirmed] data, General of the GRU Andrey Averyanov, along with several of his deputies, was allegedly eliminated with the ship.”
The Telegram post went on to say how Averyanov was allegedly behind the bombing of [Yevgeny] Prigozhin’s plane and the Skripal poisonings of 2018.
The nerve-agent attack in Salisbury, England, saw former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade chemical weapon developed by the Soviet Union.
The attack left both victims critically ill and led to the death of British citizen Dawn Sturgess, who was later exposed to the discarded toxin.
UK police and intelligence services concluded the attack was carried out by GRU officers operating under false identities, triggering a major international crisis and the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Western countries.
British authorities and allies have said the operation bore the hallmarks of a state-directed assassination attempt, repeatedly linking it to Russia’s military intelligence apparatus.
According to Ukrainian reports, he frequently travelled across Europe in shadow fleet vessels while coordinating operations attributed directly to Vladimir Putin’s inner security circle.
Footage earlier released showed the moment Ukraine blitzed the Russian shadow fleet super tanker in the middle of the Mediterranean – more than 1,200 miles outside its territory.
The Oman-flagged Qendil was hit by multiple drones in international waters, Ukraine‘s SBU service claimed.
The 800ft long vessel – which was unladen at the time – appeared to be sailing towards Russia, via the Gibraltar strait.
It had made it just 120 miles south of Crete when it was suddenly hit from all angles by Kyiv‘s impressive aerial arsenal.
Ukraine has ramped up attacks on vessels that help Russia evade sanctions to deter the ships’ owners from backing Moscow.
Shadow fleet ships take fuel from Russia before transferring it to other ships in international waters that then sell it on open markets.
The SBU spy service confirmed the hit in a statement: “The SBU for the first time hit a tanker of the Russian ‘shadow fleet’ in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea.”
It follows an SBU strike on a Russian Kilo-class submarine as Britain’s MI6 vowed to ramp up support for World War Two-style sabotage ops.
The SBU added: “As a result of multi-stage measures in the neutral waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the SBU ‘Alpha’ hit the tanker of the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of the Russian Federation ‘QENDIL’ with aerial drones.
“At the time of the special operation, the Russian ship was not carrying any cargo, but was empty.
Accordingly, this attack did not pose any threat to the environmental situation in the region.”
“Therefore, from the point of view of international law and the laws and customs of war, this is an absolutely legitimate target for the SBU.
“The enemy must understand that Ukraine will not stop and will beat him in any part of the world, wherever he is.
“As a result of the attack, the tanker “QENDIL” received critical damage and cannot be used for its intended purpose.”
Putin hit out at the Mediterranean tanker attack, vowing retribution.
Accordingly, this attack did not pose any threat to the environmental situation in the region.”
“Therefore, from the point of view of international law and the laws and customs of war, this is an absolutely legitimate target for the SBU.
“The enemy must understand that Ukraine will not stop and will beat him in any part of the world, wherever he is.
“As a result of the attack, the tanker “QENDIL” received critical damage and cannot be used for its intended purpose.”
Putin hit out at the Mediterranean tanker attack, vowing retribution.
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