Journalist who faked his death ‘feared same fate as Skripal’
THE Russian journalist who faked his death in a bid to foil an alleged Kremlin-backed assassination plot, yesterday said he had feared sharing the same fate as poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal.
In a bizarre sequence of events, Ukrainian officials reported on Tuesday night that Arkady Babchenko, a Kremlin critic, had been gunned down in Kiev.
Graphic pictures of him lying in a “pool of blood” were published and officials suggested Russia was behind the assassination.
But the next day, Babchenko appeared at a press conference where Ukrainian officials said they had faked his death to thwart a plot to assassinate him.
After coming under fire for the deception, Babchenko yesterday said he went along with the ruse because he had feared for his life.
“What would you do in my place, if they came to you and said there is a hit out on you?,” he said.
When Ukrainian officials told him about the assassination plot, he said his first reaction was: “To hell with you, I want to pack a bag and disappear to the North Pole. But then I realised, where do you hide? Skripal also tried to hide.”
He was covered in pig’s blood as part of the deceit.
Yesterday, Ukraine detained suspect Borys Herman, the co-owner of a weapons factory, who later appeared in court denying that there was ever any intent to kill Babchenko.
Prosecutors said they had evidence that Herman had handed over £11,280 to pay someone to kill Babchenko.
Herman said he had been contacted by someone close to the Kremlin about plans to kill Babchenko. He said he turned this information over to Ukraine police and worked on counterintelligence operations with them.