Anti-Kremlin journalist Arkady Babchenko was discovered to be very much alive after people thought he was murdered on Tuesday; but, it turns out his death was part of a dramatic ruse to foil an assassination plot against him.
Babchenko, 41, is an outspoken critic of the Kremlin who shocked the media on Wednesday when he appeared at a press conference and elicited gasps and applause after he was reportedly shot to death on his porch in Kiev no less than 24 hours prior.
Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of Ukraine's security service, said the staged murder was arranged to preempt a plot by Russian Intelligence to kill the former war correspondent.
The alleged organizer of the assassination plot was arrested by Kiev police, and a full investigation is currently underway.
Babchenko was an unwilling participant in the operation staged by the Ukrainian Intelligence Service who had known about a contract on his head for two months. He was told he had no other choice but to participate.
I did my job. I'm still alive. I have buried many friends and colleagues many times and I know the sickening feeling. I am sorry you had to experience it. But there was no other way.
According to CNN, the Kremlin said they had nothing to do with the assassination plot against Babchenko and were wrongly accused by the Ukrainian prime minister and many others.
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement deriding Ukraine for staging murders and not following up on real crimes, referring to the deaths of two Kiev journalists in 2015 and 2016.
Matters of life and death in Ukraine, as well as trust of the international community to its policy, are nothing more than a bargaining chip used to fuel the anti-Russian hysteria of the Kiev regime.
According to a BBC report, Hrytsak accused Russian security forces of recruiting a Ukrainian national for the assassination plot.
The citizen approached several acquaintances, including war veterans, offering $30,000 (£22,600) for the contract killing, one of whom revealed the plot to the security services.
It's unclear as to which of Babchenko's family members were made aware of the operation.
The New York Times said the journalist was evasive when asked about how much his wife Olechka knew about the fake death before she discovered him lying face down in a pool of blood and called for an ambulance, but Babchenko took the opportunity to apologize the next day at the press conference.
Olechka, I am terribly sorry, but there were no other options.
His colleagues rejoiced over the news he was alive.
