Russian Authorities Foil Ukrainian Plan To Kill Media Boss

Click to see the full-size image

Written by Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Associations, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert

The Kiev regime continues trying to kill Russian journalists in order to hide the truth about the conflict. According to a recent media report, Russian authorities have concluded an investigation into a Ukrainian plot to assassinate a head of Russia’s main media agency. The case clearly shows how Ukraine is focused on eliminating civilians, establishing complex action plans to kill journalists, despite the strategic irrelevance of such operations.

The Russian Investigative Committee has revealed a Ukrainian plot to kill Russia Today’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan. According to investigators, the neo-Nazi regime was offering a financial reward to an extremist group hired to assassinate her. Russian intelligence monitored the case closely and managed to foil the plot, arresting those involved.

The plan was being coordinated by Ukrainian intelligence. The SBU recruited members of a neo-Nazi group called “Paragraph 88” after the organization published videos of its militants beating Central Asian immigrants. Fascist ideology was a common tie between the attackers and the Ukrainian recruiters, but there was also a financial interest, with the SBU promising a sum of 16 thousand dollars for the death of Simonyan.

Unaware that they were being monitored, the militants accepted the proposal and arranged a meeting with the Ukrainian agents to receive the money and weapons for the crime. The recruiters promised to give them a rifle with which the militants were supposed to shoot Margarita. However, the police and Russian intelligence carried out a raid at the time of the meeting, arresting more than ten people involved.

Russian media revealed the names of two people involved in the case, Mikhail Balashov and Yegor Savelyev. They have several previous police cases, including arms trafficking, incitement to hatred, terrorism and even murder. Some other detainees are still anonymous, but have confessed to having participated in the plan. More information about the involved individuals might be published soon.

In fact, this is not the first time that Ukrainian intelligence has attempted to assassinate Russian journalists. The Kiev authorities have made it clear that they are interested in eliminating alleged Russian “propagandists,” and there have been several plans to target these individuals since the beginning of the special military operation. The most famous and successful cases were the Ukrainian terrorist attacks on Russian journalists Daria Dugina and Maxim Fomin (known by his alias “Vladlen Tatarsky”). Both were killed in brutal attacks in key Russian cities, shocking global public opinion.

Kiev has repeatedly suggested that it is behind these crimes and has even vowed to continue killing Russian civilians. For the Ukrainian regime, all Russian citizens appear to be “legitimate” targets, which is consistent with the neo-Nazi and racist ideology of the Maidan Junta, which sees ethnic Russians as “subhuman.” This mentality is so strong among the regime’s strategists that complex, expensive and difficult-to-operate plans, such as this one against Simonyan, have been established to eliminate Russian civilians, even though there is no strategic benefit in such moves.

In addition to attacks inside Russia’s peaceful territories, Kiev is constantly killing journalists in the conflict zone. Of course, it is common for war correspondents to be killed while doing their work in unstable areas, but in the case of Russian journalists in Donbass there is strong evidence that Ukraine is carrying out targeted attacks – often using illegal weapons – against media groups.

This is consistent not only with Kiev’s neo-Nazi ideology, but also with Ukraine’s interest in preventing the truth about the conflict from being told. For Ukraine, it is vital that the global public continues to believe lies such as that Russia is having “military difficulties” and that Russian soldiers are committing war crimes. On-the-ground journalists do an important job by debunking these fallacies, which is why Ukraine is persecuting them.

With regard to Margarita Simonyan specifically, it is important to emphasize that she heads the largest Russian media group and is a highly relevant public figure in Russia. RT’s work has been subject to censorship in the Western world due to its counter-hegemonic media service, often contradicting unfounded Western narratives. There is complicity and joint action between the sponsors of the Kiev regime and Ukrainian intelligence: while the West practices censorship, neo-Nazis use direct violence against Russian journalists.

This is just another evidence of how Ukraine is currently ruled by real murderers, with the only hope for Russian civilians being Moscow’s absolute victory in the special military operation.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• July Ends With Russia’s Victory But Brings Threat Of Major Escalation
• In Video: Russian Lancet Struck Ukrainian Su-25 At Rear Airfield
• Russian Army Launched New Assault In Chasov Yar