Just WTF is going on here? Did the Ukrainian government actually think this was a good idea?
BBC:
Ukraine staged the murder of a Russian dissident journalist in Kiev on Tuesday in what it said was a sting operation to foil a Russian assassination plot.
Arkady Babchenko sent shock waves around the world when he arrived at a news conference on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after being reported dead.
Ukrainian security chief Vasyl Hrytsak said a sting had been set up to catch hitmen paid by Russian forces.
Russia described events in Kiev as an “anti-Russian provocation”.
Ukrainian police say they made one arrest.
Babchenko’s wife said on Tuesday she had found her husband at the entrance to their apartment block with bullet wounds in his back, and he was reported to have died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
That story was widely reported by media around the world, until Wednesday’s sudden and extraordinary development.
There were gasps and applause at the press conference in Kiev as Babchenko entered the room. He thanked the Ukrainian security services for saving his life and said he had had no choice but to take part in the sting.
Talk about a weird story. It’s definitely reasonable to question the official story that’s being told here. A journalist faking his own death to expose a Russian assassination plot? Forgive me if I’m skeptical. I’m sure there’s various theories being pondered as to what actually happened.
The end result does not favor Ukraine though. Because now if the Russians actually want to kill journalists they can point to this case and talk about fake news. But this whole idea that Vladimir Putin is randomly killing journalists is in of itself propaganda. It’s not something that is actively happening and this story completely undermines that narrative they’ve pushed.
Overall though, this story just reinforces my belief that most mainstream journalists are pieces of shit and deserve to be killed. It also shows that the journalism field is filled with scummy people who work in conjunction with intelligence services. Operation Mockingbird is a good example of this phenomenon in the United States but it is something that absolutely happens in many other countries as well.
