A Russian journalist and prominent Kremlin critic was paraded in front of the cameras in the Ukrainian capital yesterday, just hours after local officials declared him dead and the country’s prime minister accused Moscow of ordering the assassination.
At a bizarre press conference, the chief of Ukraine’s security services claimed they had faked the killing of Arkady Babchenko, 41, who moved to Kiev last year after receiving death threats in Moscow, as part of an elaborate plan to foil an alleged planned hit on the journalist by Russia’s secret services.
“I would like to apologise that all of you had to suffer . . . that you were all forced to live through this,” an embarrassed-looking Mr Babchenko said at the media appearance as he stood next to officials including Vasyl Hrytsak, head of Ukraine’s security services.