The defendants were convicted of preparing attacks on Margarita Simonyan and journalist Ksenia Sobchak on orders from Ukrainian intelligence
A Russian military court has sentenced 12 defendants over a plot to assassinate RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, handing the alleged ringleader 25 years in prison.
The case stems from a 2023 operation by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which said it had foiled a Ukrainian-backed plot to kill Simonyan and celebrity journalist Ksenia Sobchak.
Authorities arrested members of the neo-Nazi group Paragraph-88, alleging they had conducted surveillance of the two women’s homes and workplaces in preparation for the attacks.
The FSB said it had seized a Kalashnikov rifle with ammunition, rubber batons, knives, brass knuckles, Nazi symbols and communications devices containing evidence of the plot. The agency said the detainees admitted that they had been preparing the killings on orders from Ukraine’s Security Service in exchange for 1.5 million rubles ($20,000) for each murder.
On Friday, the Second Western District Military Court in Moscow handed down the verdicts to the 12 individuals accused of being part of the plot. Mikhail Balashov, described as the leader of the cell, received the longest sentence. Egor Savelyev, another key defendant, was sentenced to 15 years, while other members of the group received shorter prison terms.
The defendants were charged with crimes including participation in a terrorist organization, aiding terrorist activity, public calls for extremism, incitement of hatred, robbery and hooliganism. Balashov and Savelyev were also accused of preparing to acquire firearms and plotting to kill Simonyan.
Investigators also said members of the group had carried out attacks on foreigners and people they identified as LGBT, filmed the assaults and posted the footage online.
