Russian’s Phony Assassination Undermines Ukraine’s Credibility
The would-be victim, Arkady Babchenko, can’t give good answers about his staged death.
Rumors of Arkady Babchenko’s death were greatly exaggerated.
Photographer: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
The news that Ukrainian authorities faked the death of the Russian author and journalist Arkady Babchenko raises important questions about modern hybrid warfare. The biggest is what is and isn’t permissible.
On May 29, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies announced that Babchenko, who has lived in Kiev after being forced out of his native Moscow by a government-directed bullying campaign, had been shot at the entrance to his apartment building. His wife supposedly found his body in a pool of blood and he was declared dead on his way to the hospital. An outpouring of grief (and some schadenfreude from Kremlin trolls) followed.