Russian Investigative Journalist Killed in Kiev – Update: Arkady Babchenko Is Alive
May 29th, 2018Update: Suspects Linked to Ukrainian Intelligence
Woopsee.
Via: Daily Mail:
The Ukrainian government’s faked assassination of an anti-Putin journalist has raised more questions after one of the would-be killers was revealed to be a well-known Russia-hating former monk.
Boris L. German, 50, appeared in court accused of hiring former monk Oleksiy Tsimbalyuk to carry out the killing of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko. Tsimbalyuk is alleged to have reported the alleged hit to Ukrainian counter intelligence, the SBU.
Yet Facebook pictures of Tsimbalyuk in the uniform of Right Sector, a Ukrainian ultranationalist that the Kremlin portray as a neo-Nazi group, and as a former deacon in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has cast doubt on Putin’s involvement.
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Update: Staged His Death in Coordination with Ukrainian Police
Via: Guardian:
Arkady Babchenko, the Russian journalist who was reported to have been shot dead in Kiev, has turned up alive at a news conference in Ukraine.
Babchenko emerged at a police press conference on Wednesday afternoon in front of journalists who had been expecting updates on the investigation into his murder.
Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian security service, told reporters the agency had faked Babchenko’s death to catch people who were trying to kill him.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian police had said Babchenko, a Kremlin critic and veteran Russian war correspondent, was shot three times in the back as he left his apartment to buy bread. A government official told the media that Babchenko, 41, had died in the ambulance to the hospital.
But on Wednesday, officials said Babchenko staged his death in coordination with Ukrainian police as part of an investigation into threats made against his life. The plan had been in place for more than a month.
Police said they had made one arrest in connection with the operation.
Speaking to journalists, Babchenko apologised, saying: “I have been forced to bury my friends and colleagues many times and I know the sickening feeling.”
Apparently he had not even told his closest family members about the plan.
“Special apologies to my wife, Olechka, there was no other option,” Babchenko said to a room of visibly stunned journalists. “The operation was under preparation for two months.”
It was not immediately clear how Babchenko faking his death led to the apprehension of the suspect.
According to Gritsak, Russian authorities had recruited a former fighter in east Ukraine by offering him $30,000 for the killing.
Wearing a black hoodie and shuffling slightly as he spoke, Babchenko concluded: “I’ve done my work. I’m still alive for the moment.”
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Via: BBC:
Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko has died after being shot near his home in Kiev, Ukrainian police say.
Mr Babchenko, 41, was found bleeding at the entrance to his block of flats by his wife and died in an ambulance.
After writing about a crashed Russian military plane in 2016, Mr Babchenko said he received death threats and left his home country.
He first moved to Prague and later to the Ukrainian capital. He was an outspoken critic of the Kremlin.
I’d be very interested in hearing what others think about this. State business as usual; a dish of Putinesca served cold? Rogue ‘patriots’?