You're reading: Irish Times: Ukraine rejects criticism over staged murder of Russian journalist

Irish Times: Ukraine rejects criticism over staged murder of Russian journalist

By Irish Times.

Published May 31, 2018 at 9:22 pm

Ukrainian National guard servicemen stand in front of Russian embassy in Kiev, on May 30, 2018, where portraits of journalist Arkadi Babchenko have been hung by activists to the fence one day after he was alleged to have been shot in his apartment building in the Ukrainian capital.Ukraine was under fire on May 31, 2018 after it admitted staging the murder of anti-Kremlin journalist Arkady Babchenko, despite relief in Russia and Ukraine that he was alive. Babchenko made a shock reappearance at a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the Ukrainian authorities reported he had been shot dead at his home in a contract-style killing blamed on Russia. / AFP PHOTO / Sergei SUPINSKY

Photo by AFP

Ukraine has strongly rejected international criticism of a sting operation that saw dissident Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko help fake his own shooting in Kyiv to foil an alleged multiple-murder plot devised by Moscow.

To near universal astonishment, Babchenko (41) walked into a press conference on May 30 called by Ukraine’s SBU security agency to give details of his reported death the night before.