Death was fake but injury to trust real

Arkady Babchenko rose from the dead last week, to the joy of those who know and love him. The truth, long a casualty of the war that began in Ukraine four years ago, will not recover so easily.

The announcement that the “murder” of the exiled Russian journalist had been staged provoked shock and anger as well as relief. The emotion of his sympathisers was mirrored by evident glee on the part of pro-Russian social media users, quick to exploit its wider potential by renewing attacks on the “Skripal fairytale” and warning: “Next time you show me photos from Syria by ‘White Helmets’ I will show photo of ‘dead Arkady Babchenko killed by Putin’.”

Unfortunately, Kiev’s actions have not only damaged the already very limited trust in the Ukrainian government and its secret service, but risk hurting trust more broadly.

At a time of cynicism and deliberate manipulation, when “fake news” is the rallying cry of those seeking to bury facts, and when lies are proven to spread faster than the truth, such injuries are more serious than ever. One Ukrainian MP compared the plot to Sherlock Holmes faking his own death “to effectively investigate difficult and complicated crimes”. Apparently he, like the security service, is hazy about the importance of the line between fact and fiction. But when they are so careless, others pay.