A RUSSIAN journalist reported as having been murdered in Ukraine has shown up alive at a press conference.
Arkady Babchenko, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, was thought to have been gunned down in Kiev but has reappeared in front of the press in Ukraine.
Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian security service, told reporters that the agency faked Babchenko's death to catch those who are trying to kill him.
Kiev and national police had said Babchenko was shot multiple times in the back at his apartment building and found bleeding by his wife.
Babchenko showed up at the news conference and thanked everyone who was mourning his death.
Ukrainian authorities had originally said they thought Babchenko was killed because of his work.
Several Ukrainian politicians blamed the Kremlin for the alleged killing – comments which Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as cynical.
Russia had even offered assistance to Ukrainian police investigating the murder.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, told Russian news agencies that Russia would be happy to help with the investigation if Ukrainian authorities requested it.
The 41-year-old had fled Russia last year, fearing for his life, and settled in Ukraine. He had served in the Russian army during the two wars in Chechnya in 1990s and became one of Russia’s best-known war reporters.
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