Russia's FSB thwarts attempts to kill prominent journalists

According to the Interfax news agency, Russia’s FSB security service announced on Saturday that it had foiled purported Ukrainian-backed conspiracies to assassinate two well-known Russian journalists.

Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak’s homes and businesses are close to where the FSB said it had detained an undefined number of persons on Friday.

Ukraine, which has previously denied involvement in killing pro-war figures inside of Russia, made no immediate comments.

The prisoners confirmed planning attacks on the two ladies on behalf of Ukraine, and Interfax cited the FSB as claiming they had been promised rewards of 1.5 million roubles ($16,620) for each of them.

Simonyan, the chairman of the state-run RT and an outspoken advocate of Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, wrote about the suspected plot in a Telegram message, asking the security services to “Keep on working, brothers!”

Sobchak, a well-known journalist and TV broadcaster, stood for president in 2018 as well.

Vladlen Tatarsky, a military blogger, and journalist Darya Dugina, both notable pro-war Russians, were killed in bombings within Russia in the previous year. The killings were attributed to Ukraine by Russia, but Kyiv rejected this and claimed they were a result of internal strife in Russia.

Zakhar Prilepin, a well-known nationalist author from Russia, was injured in a car bombing in May that also claimed the life of the driver. Authorities reported that a suspect had been taken into custody and admitted to acting on behalf of Ukraine.

(With agency inputs)