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I'm not sure I understand what happened here. Did they arrest someone who was hired to kill him? What was the point of this?

baybal2 8y ago
Say, their signals people picked up a shortwave destined to an agent, but they had no idea where to look for him. Or if the disposable and deniable hitman was employed, and the agent himself was out of their reach for whatever reason. They may have wanted to intercept him, and have their own man to reach Russian agent once the execution order was "fulfilled"
ceejayoz 8y ago
It sounds a lot like when the FBI provides a non-functional bomb to a suspect and arrests them when they try to detonate it.
- srtjstjsj 8y ago
  Usually, the FBI puts intense pressure on an innocent person to convince them to accept a non-functional bomb, and then arrests them for having it.
blowski 8y ago
What's the chances of finding the real reason on Hacker News? There'll be thousands of reasons given, you'll never know which one is true.
LandR 8y ago
I don't get it either. Was he not actually shot? Was he even shot at? Him being found by his wife dead and bloody, did this happen? I don't understand this at all.
- rohit2412 8y ago
  Yeah, if they had been planning for two months, likely the gun shots were staged. Then it wasn't really going to fool Russia, they hadn't attacked him. Was it an attempt to influence Western countries?
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    > Then it wasn't really going to fool Russia, they hadn't attacked him. That's not supported by what we know. It's not uncommon for people to get caught hiring hitmen that turn out to be undercover police. That may be what happened here. edit: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44307611 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44307611 states: > Mr Hrytsak alleged that Russian security services had recruited a Ukrainian citizen to find hitmen within the country. He said the citizen approached several acquaintances, including war veterans, offering $30,000 for the contract killing, one of whom revealed the plot to the security services. Blanks, blood squib, cooperative ambulance crew, report back with "mission successful" and see what sort of activity happens at the Russian embassy.
    - rohit2412 8y ago
      Ahh I see
Const-me 8y ago
> Did they arrest someone who was hired to kill him? They have arrested someone who paid to kill the journalist. The “assassin” was an undercover Ukrainian agent, and he’s gonna be one of the key witnesses in the criminal case that will follow.
growlix 8y ago
"...officials said Babchenko staged his death in coordination with Ukrainian police as part of an investigation into threats made against his life. The plan had been in place for more than a month...They have made one arrest in connection with the operation." [0] It's not clear why they faked his death, but apparently it led to something happening. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/30/russian-journalist-arkady-babchenko-who-was-reported-killed-is-still-alive https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/30/russian-journa...

baybal2 8y ago

Say, their signals people picked up a shortwave destined to an agent, but they had no idea where to look for him. Or if the disposable and deniable hitman was employed, and the agent himself was out of their reach for whatever reason. They may have wanted to intercept him, and have their own man to reach Russian agent once the execution order was "fulfilled"

ceejayoz 8y ago

It sounds a lot like when the FBI provides a non-functional bomb to a suspect and arrests them when they try to detonate it.

srtjstjsj 8y ago
Usually, the FBI puts intense pressure on an innocent person to convince them to accept a non-functional bomb, and then arrests them for having it.

blowski 8y ago

What's the chances of finding the real reason on Hacker News? There'll be thousands of reasons given, you'll never know which one is true.

LandR 8y ago

I don't get it either. Was he not actually shot? Was he even shot at? Him being found by his wife dead and bloody, did this happen? I don't understand this at all.

rohit2412 8y ago
Yeah, if they had been planning for two months, likely the gun shots were staged. Then it wasn't really going to fool Russia, they hadn't attacked him. Was it an attempt to influence Western countries?
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  > Then it wasn't really going to fool Russia, they hadn't attacked him. That's not supported by what we know. It's not uncommon for people to get caught hiring hitmen that turn out to be undercover police. That may be what happened here. edit: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44307611 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44307611 states: > Mr Hrytsak alleged that Russian security services had recruited a Ukrainian citizen to find hitmen within the country. He said the citizen approached several acquaintances, including war veterans, offering $30,000 for the contract killing, one of whom revealed the plot to the security services. Blanks, blood squib, cooperative ambulance crew, report back with "mission successful" and see what sort of activity happens at the Russian embassy.
  - rohit2412 8y ago
    Ahh I see

Const-me 8y ago

> Did they arrest someone who was hired to kill him? They have arrested someone who paid to kill the journalist. The “assassin” was an undercover Ukrainian agent, and he’s gonna be one of the key witnesses in the criminal case that will follow.

growlix 8y ago

"...officials said Babchenko staged his death in coordination with Ukrainian police as part of an investigation into threats made against his life. The plan had been in place for more than a month...They have made one arrest in connection with the operation." [0] It's not clear why they faked his death, but apparently it led to something happening. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/30/russian-journalist-arkady-babchenko-who-was-reported-killed-is-still-alive https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/30/russian-journa...