Journalist turns up at news conference after reported murder
KIEV/MOSCOW — Ukraine sought to justify faking the death of a Russian journalist who appeared alive and well at a news conference in Kiev less than 24 hours after he was “murdered”, citing an alleged Russian plot to kill him.
Onlookers gasped and applauded as Arkady Babchenko re-appeared on Wednesday, introduced by the head of Ukraine’s security service, who said the murder had been staged in order to foil an attempt on his life by Moscow.
However, Moscow on Wednesday condemned the plot, with the Foreign Ministry saying “now the true motives are beginning to be revealed for this staging, which is totally obviously yet another antiRussian provocation”.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was “great news” that Babchenko was alive but on Twitter she slammed the “propagandistic effect” of the setup.
Ukraine said the reporter had died on Tuesday after being shot three times in the back in the stairwell of his apartment building in a contract-style killing.
Ukraine’s security service head Vasyl Grytsak told the news conference on Wednesday that authorities had arrested the alleged mastermind of the plot, saying a Ukrainian citizen named only by the initial G. had offered to pay a hitman to carry out the killing after being recruited by Russian special forces and paid $40,000.
Babchenko, 41, had worked as a war correspondent in Moskovsky Komsomolets and several other Moscow-based media.
He moved from Moscow to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, in February 2017, citing unspecified threats. In August 2017, Babchenko moved to Kiev.
Babchenko is known as the author of several books on military themes, which have been translated into 16 languages.
listens to Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, during a news conference in Kiev on Wednesday.