22:36, 29 May 2018

Journalist and veteran of Chechen Wars Arkady Babchenko killed in Kiev

Arkady Babchenko lived in Ukraine since 2017. Photo from his personal page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/babchenkoa

Arkady Babchenko, a Russian journalist and veteran of two Chechen Wars, was shot dead in Kiev.

Arkady Babchenko, an author of several books about Chechen Wars, was born in 1977 in Moscow. In 1996, as a regular soldier of the Russian Army, he got into the First Chechen War, later he participated in the Second Chechen War. In 2008, as a military correspondent of the "Novaya Gazeta", Arkady visited the conflict zone in South Ossetia.

Babchenko was shot on the threshold of his apartment; the killer was waiting for him at the entrance, Anton Gerashchenko, an MP and an adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ukraine, has reported.

The killer shot Babchenko several times in his back, when the journalist went out to visit a shop. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, Mr Gerashchenko wrote in the Facebook.

Babchenko lived in Ukraine since 2017. He explained his departure from Russia by fears of criminal prosecution.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.