Russian Opposition Journalist Shot Dead In Kyiv

29 May 2018 22:06

Unknown assailants have shot dead Russian opposition journalist Arkady Babchenko in his home in Kyiv, according to a Facebook post by journalist Ayder Muzhdabaev.

Unknown assailants have shot dead Russian opposition journalist Arkady Babchenko in his home in Kyiv. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Spokesperson for the Ukrainian National Police Yaroslav Trakalo told Hromadske that “a presenter from one of the television channels has been shot at his home and he died in the ambulance.” Trakalo did not mention the victim’s name. The spokesperson for the Kyiv police also stated that “a Russian citizen, born 1977, a presenter on one of the television channels” had died.

Photo credit: facebook.com/babchenkoa

Although the police have not yet confirmed that Babchenko was the victim in this attack, Babchenko is known to have been born in 1977.

A composite sketch of the suspect has now been released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs on social media. The post accompanying it states that the witnesses and circumstances of the incident have been established and that the crime-scene investigation team, the operational subdivision of the National Police and the Kyiv police are working on the scene.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchuk/HROMADSKE

A Russian opposition journalist and documentalist, Babchenko was known to be a critic of the Russian government in general and president Vladimir Putin specifically.

“I don’t believe that anything can be changed [in Russia]. Vladimir Putin is the most powerful dictator in the world,” Babchenko previously told Hromadske. “But damn! It’s my home country. I want to live there.”

The journalist left Russia in 2017, moving to Prague and then Ukraine. He had previously worked as war correspondent for Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Babchenko often appeared on Hromadske TV to talk about his work and the war in Donbas. In February 2017, he told Hromadske that he had received threats in Russia.

Photo credit: Dmytro Replianchuk/HROMADSKE

According to the head of the Kyiv police Andriy Kryshchenko, they are investigating the murder from two angles: Babchenko’s professional activities and his civic stance.

In his comment to Hromadske, Kryshchenko said that a woman who was in the flat when Babchenko was shot alerted the police about the incident. She is currently in a state of shock and unable to give a statement to the police.

The Russian Investigative Committee say that they have filed a criminal case concerning Babchenko’s murder.

“Over the last few years, several Russian citizens have been murdered on Ukrainian territory: journalist Pavel Sheremet, ex-MP Denis Voronenkov. The Investigative Committee does not intend on ignoring the brutal crimes committed against Russian citizens,” their statement reads.

/By Sofia Fedeczko and Maria Romanenko