Moscow: A Moscow court on Saturday issued criminal charges against seven people “motivated by national hatred” to kill two prominent Russian journalists in a Ukrainian-backed plot, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency said.
The court approved the detention until Sept 14, under criminal charges of “hooliganism,” of five minors born in 2005 and 2006 and two men it said were part of an organised group, TASS said.
TASS said Russia’s FSB security service detained an unspecified number of people on Friday who carried out reconnaissance near the homes and workplaces of journalists Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which in the past has denied involvement in assassinations of pro-war figures inside Russia.
Interfax news agency quoted the FSB as saying that the detainees had admitted preparing attacks on the two women on behalf of Ukraine and had been promised a reward of $16,620 for each one.
Simonyan, head of state media outlet RT and a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, posted a message on Telegram about the alleged plot, urging the security services to “Keep on working, brothers!”
Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2023
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