The Kremlin in Russia has gone public to deny claims that Vladimir Putin was hit by an assassination bid when his motorcade was allegedly attacked on the way to his official residence.
The incident was claimed by a Telegram channel that the Russian government is seeking to ban.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's limousine was hit by a “loud bang” on its “left front wheel followed by heavy smoke”, wrote the General SVR Telegram channel.
The car drove to safety with the Russian warmonger unharmed but there have been multiple arrests from his security service, amid claims that secret information about the 69-year-old ruler’s movements was compromised.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked by state-run TASS news agency whether the report had any factual basis and replied: “No”.
Another official news agency RIA Novosti claimed Peskov had only denied a Wednesday assassination bid.
However, General SVR did not specify when the alleged incident took place.
According to the anti-Kremlin General SVR channel, Putin was travelling back to his official residence on an unspecified date in a decoy motorcade over security fears.
This comprised five armoured cars, with Putin in the third, according to the claim.
The channel said: “On the way to the residence, a few kilometres away, the first escort car was blocked by an ambulance, [and] the second escort car drove around without stopping [due to the] sudden obstacle and during the detour of the obstacle."
In Putin’s car “a loud bang sounded from the left front wheel followed by heavy smoke”.
Despite problems over control, the car made its way out of the attack scene to reach the safety of his residence.
“Subsequently, the body of a man was found driving [the] ambulance, which blocked the first car from the motorcade,” said SVR General.
The anti-Putin channel claims it has strong inside sources from the Kremlin and said details of the supposed attack are “classified”.
The channel claimed: "A narrow circle of people knew about the movement of the president in this cortege, and all of them were from the presidential security service.
"After the incident, three of them disappeared. These were exactly the people who were in the first car of the motorcade. Their fate is currently unknown.
“The car on which they were travelling was found empty a few kilometres from the incident.”
Recent footage in Kaliningrad showed Putin’s motorcade guards very jumpy and nervous as he made an impromptu stop to greet well-wishers.
