Russian propagandist Sergey Mardan directly called for the orchestrated assassination of prominent opposition figures during a live broadcast on Tuesday. The targets of his threats included former world chess champion and opposition politician Garry Kasparov, television presenter Yevgeny Kiselyov, and former Russian State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev.
"They labeled Ponomarev a terrorist, and what happened? Is there a manhunt for him? Has a bounty been placed on his head? I see nothing of the sort. But why not? We could support this on Soloviev Live. We could open a separate account," Mardan said during the broadcast on the "Soloviev. Live" channel.
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Speaking further, he said the editorial team was ready to jointly raise funds for the organization of a contract killing and the payment of a hitman's services.
"Let's gather money for the elimination of Ponomarev. How much is needed, 10, 20, 50 thousand? We could collect it in three days," he added.
Genocidal Russian state propagandist Sergey Mardan casually talks on his show about wanting to raise money for hiring someone to kill Garry Kasparov and other political activists opposed to Putin’s regime and criminal invasion of Ukraine. He calls it a “good cause”. Totally sick. pic.twitter.com/DB76YlnSew
— Vlada Knowlton 🇺🇦 (@VladaKnowlton) October 4, 2023
Ilya Ponomarev, one of the potential targets, responded: “Here, a propagandist warrior plans to murder me. But here's the thing - he's weak when it comes to getting me, but I wouldn't bet against me in his place ;)"
Тут боец пропагандистского фронта меня заказать собрался. Только вот какая штука - ему меня достать слабО, а вот в обратную сторону я бы на его месте не зарекался ;) https://t.co/OL5NR1DPgi
— Илья Пономарев / Ілля Пономарьов (@iponomarev) October 3, 2023
Continuing his outburst, the Russian propagandist identified other Russian opposition figures who should also be threatened with assassination.
“Why not target Yevgeny Kiselyov, Yevgeny Alekseevich? He also supports Garry Kasparov's declaration. Garry Kasparov freely travels around the world, probably without any security, lives in the United States, strolls peacefully in the park, and visits the Baltic states... What's the problem?”
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Kyiv Post reached out to Yevgeny Kiselyov, one of the founders of the Russian (now-state-run) NTV channel, TV presenter and now one of the opposition figures, who was included as a target of the Mardan's public declaration.
Kiselyov commented on these threats, saying: “Many years have passed, and one of the subordinates of my former friend and colleague Oleg Dobrodeyev – the man who heads the massive machine of Russian state television – publicly suggests starting a fundraiser to hire a hitman and kill one of the opposition leaders, Garry Kasparov, a globally renowned politician, philanthropist, and former world chess champion who brought honor and fame to our country.
“This is not just a random outburst from an obscure character on his own little-known YouTube channel; this message is being broadcast on the state radio station VestiFM and all Telegram channels belonging to VGTRK, and their main video portal,” Kiselyov concluded.
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