Arkady Babchenko, the Russian journalist whose murder was dramatically announced by Ukraine on Tuesday, emerged very much alive on Wednesday and said he had faked his own death in order to thwart a plot by Moscow to kill him.
Smiling, and looking a little sheepish, Babchenko appeared before a surreal press conference held by Ukraine’s SBU security service. He apologised to his wife for the “nightmare” he had caused her but said there had been no alternative to playing at being dead.
“Olechka, I am sorry, but there were no options here,” Babchenko declared. “I’m sorry for making you live through this. I’ve buried my own friends and colleagues many times myself.”
Ukrainian officials announced on Tuesday that Babchenko, a veteran war correspondent, had been shot three times in the back as he left his apartment in the capital Kiev to buy bread. His wife discovered him lying in a puddle of blood and Babchenko died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, they said.
Ukraine’s prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, promptly blamed the Kremlin for Babchenko’s “death” and suggested he had been targeted because of his professional work. To complete the picture, the authorities released a sketch of the likely assassin. It revealed a bearded middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap.
On Wednesday Babchenko revealed that this was all an elaborate special operation – a hoax, in fact. It certainly fooled the world’s media, which reported his death prominently, and prompted friends and colleagues to shower him with posthumous tributes. At the time when he came back from the dead writers were busy crafting his obituary.
The news that Babchenko was alive and the sight of the reporter prompted gasps from journalists at the press conference. Speaking in Russian, for which he apologised, Babchenko said Ukraine’s SBU had learned of a “serious” plan to kill him two months ago and warned him about it one month ago.
The plot originated in Moscow and from “government security services”, he said. “They [the SBU] showed me evidence and I understood that it was coming from Russia, probably from state security apparatus,” Babchenko explained. He added: “They suggested I take part in a sting operation.”
His apparent killers had been provided with his passport photo and official details, he said, hinting this was proof of Russian state conspiracy. The sting operation had its bizarre denouement on Tuesday night when his death was announced. “I did my job. And I’m still alive,” Babchenko said, expressing thanks to Ukraine’s special services for “saving my life”.
There was near-universal relief at Babchenko’s miraculous resurrection, amid fears he had become the latest critic of Vladimir Putin to die in opaque circumstances. Babchenko had written for the liberal opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, six of whose correspondents have been murdered for real.
At the same time, fellow journalists were critical of Babchenko’s astonishing methods. He had, they argued, delivered a massive propaganda gift to the Russian government and its online army.
Officials in Ukraine and Russia routinely accuse each other of lying and fakery. In spring 2014 Putin annexed Crimea and fomented a conflict in eastern Ukraine, supplying weapons, tanks, and undercover soldiers to secessionist anti-Kiev rebels. More than 10,000 people have died, with both sides blaming each other for the fighting and its consequences.
Kremlin officials and Russia’s embassy in London had already blamed Ukraine for Babchenko’s “death”.
Russian trolls tweeted on Wednesday mocking reporters who had spread news of Babchenko’s demise.
One of those surprised by the reporter’s comeback was the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who had said on Tuesday he was “appalled” by Babchenko’s “murder”. The Foreign Office and British intelligence were seemingly unaware that his killing was a stunt until the news broke.
The Russian journalist Alexey Kovalev dubbed Babchenko “a total ass” and said “we’re all dunces for falling for this”. Kovalev added, in brackets: “I’m glad he’s alive, of course.”
Andrei Soldatov, a Moscow-based writer and expert on Russia’s security services, said Babchenko had “undermined even further the credibility of journalists and the media”. In exasperated tones, he tweeted: “Babchenko is a journalist not a policeman, for Christ sake, and part of our job is trust, whatever Trump and Putin say about fake news.”
Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and opposition leader, was more forgiving. Kasparov – who moved to New York five years ago because of fears for his safety – called the episode “a bizarre charade”. “But I’ve had too many colleagues beaten and murdered to be anything but happy that he is alive and well,” he pointed out.
Details of the precise threat to Babchenko’s life were murky. Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the SBU, said Russia’s spy agencies had contacted a middleman, identified only as G, and paid him $40,000 to arrange the murder. The middleman in turn approached a former Ukrainian volunteer soldier to carry out the hit, together with additional “terrorist acts”, he said.
The middleman was now in custody, Hrytsak said, showing video of a middle-aged, white-haired man being bundled by officers into a van. Hrytsak added that phone intercepts had revealed his contacts in Moscow. Dozens of contract killings had been averted, he suggested, claiming that the list of potential victims in Ukraine stretched to 30 names.
The Ukrainian suspect was supposed to buy a large quantity of weapons and explosive, including 300 AK-47 rifles and “hundreds of kilos of explosives”, Hrytsak alleged.
The general prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, appeared alongside Babchenko, who was dressed at Wednesday’s press conference in a black hoodie. Lutsenko said it was necessary to fake the journalist’s death so the organisers of the plot to kill him would believe they had succeeded.
Friends had begun planning vigils and fundraising for Babchenko’s adopted children when he emerged alive. Colleagues at the Ukrainian TV station where he worked – who had been watching the press conference live – whooped, danced and clapped in disbelief when it emerged he was still among the living.
Babchenko left Moscow in February 2017 and settled with his wife and family in Ukraine. He escaped – in his words – following a sustained campaign of vilification by Russian state TV channels and by pro-Putin politicians. Babchenko, who fought in both the first and second Chechen wars, had written a Facebook post saying the crash of a Russian military plane on its way to Syria, killing all on board, left him indifferent.
Tens of thousands of people signed a petition to strip him of his Russian citizenship and Babchenko’s home address was published on line. In a piece for the Guardian Babchenko wrote: “Like many dissidents I am used to abuse, but a recent campaign against me was so personal, so scary, that I was forced to flee.”
In March Babchenko attended an anti-Kremlin conference in New York. He described “propaganda” as Putin’s greatest weapon and said it was more powerful than a “plane or a tank”. Russia’s president had used the media to “dehumanising” effect, he argued, portraying Chechens, Ukrainians and liberal protesters as “enemies”.
