Moscow/Kiev, Jul. 16, (dpa/GNA) - Ukraine has rejected Russian accusations of a planned assassination attempt on two prominent media representatives in Moscow.
As far as Ukraine is concerned, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the state TV channel RT, and anchor Ksenia Sobchak are irrelevant, Mychaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office, said on Unity TV in Kiev.
“They have no influence on anything. They don’t play a role today in what’s happening – not in the context of the war as a whole and not in the context of Russia losing its position in the global context,” Podolyak said.
Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the FSB, said it foiled an assassination attempt on Simonyan and Sobchak and on Friday arrested seven suspects, including several minors.
The FSB said Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service paid a Russian neo-Nazi to kill Simonyan, who is a fervent supporter of Moscow’s war on Ukraine, along with Sobchak, an opponent of the war.
The motive for any attempt on Sobchak’s life remained unclear. She objected to being put on the same level as the pro-Kremlin RT head, saying it was “shabby” to do so.
RT published a video showing a young man wearing a T-shirt saying Waffen SS, claiming Ukrainians had told him to carry out the killing.
The man, 18, gave his name and date of birth before describing the planned crime. He said he was arrested by security officials as he was preparing to hand over some weapons.
The Russian secret service frequently reports on alleged attacks supposedly planned by Ukrainian intelligence services. These claims cannot be independently verified.
GNA