Kremlin critic thought dead until he shows up quite alive
MOSCOW — In a twist worthy of a Russian novel, a prominent Kremlin critic and journalist — whose purported slaying a day earlier in the Ukrainian capital had prompted a wave of grief and outrage — emerged alive and well Wednesday, with officials explaining they had mounted an elaborate sting to foil a death plot against him.
The journalist, 41-year-old Arkady Babchenko, apologized to all for the deception, first and foremost to his wife, Olga. Flanked by law enforcement officials at a news conference in Kiev, he said he had agreed to pose as his own mortally wounded corpse to give authorities their best chance to ensnare those who wanted him dead.
But the episode illustrated the climate of pervasive lawlessness in Ukraine and the ongoing danger to those who run afoul of the Kremlin. At the news conference, the head of the Ukrainian security service, Vasily Gritsak, said the agency hatched the operation af-
The sight of Babchenko, speaking calmly and clad in a black hoodie, drew gasps and widened eyes among his colleagues.
ter it became aware of an attempt to target the journalist, for which he blamed Russian authorities.
On Tuesday, police had reported that Babchenko, a veteran war correspondent who fled Russia and sought haven in Kiev last year, was shot multiple times outside his apartment and died en route to the hospital. The news conference on Wednesday drew a crowd of journalists who were expecting to be updated about the investigation into his killing.
The sight of Babchenko, speaking calmly and clad in a black hoodie, drew gasps and widened eyes among his colleagues. He and authorities said that the plan to fake his death had been in place for more than a month.
Authorities said they arrested one person: a Ukrainian citizen they said was recruited by Russia to find and hire a contract killer. The price for the killing was $30,000, they said, with $10,000 more going to the intermediary.
Babchenko suggested that without the deception, the killing might have come to pass in reality. But it was not clear how or whether the ruse would shield him in the future.
“I have been forced to bury my friends and colleagues many times,” he said. “I know the sickening feeling.”
Moscow dismissed as propaganda the assertion it was behind a plot to kill Babchenko.