Neo-Nazi thugs were offered $50,000 to attempt to kill Margarita Simonyan, the agency has said
Two members of a neo-Nazi group have been charged with planning to assassinate RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, the Russian Investigative Committee has said.
The investigation into the case has been completed and handed over to prosecutors, the agency said in a statement on Monday.
Simonyan posted on X that she was thankful to those who prevented the planned attack. “My deepest gratitude to our law enforcement officers for their work,” she wrote.
The assassination plot against the RT editor-in-chief was prepared by members of a Moscow-based cell of the banned the National Socialism/White Power group, according to the agency.
The cell, called ‘Pure Blood’, was set up in 2022 by Mikhail Balashov, who recruited at least 11 people with “national-socialist and racist views.”
“Additionally, on the order of unidentified individuals, Balashov and the cell’s other member, Egor Savelyev, agreed to kill journalist Margarita Simonyan for a cash reward of $50,000,” the statement read.
They gathered data on the RT editor-in-chief’s whereabouts and obtained firearms, but were detained by officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) before being able to carry out the murder, it added.
Balashov and Savelyev have been charged with illegal possession of weapons and preparation for murder. Together with other members of the cell, they are also accused of creating a terrorist group, hooliganism, and inciting hatred, the agency said.
Earlier reports suggested the hit on Simonyan had been ordered by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), which in 2023 accused her of calling for “mass killings of Ukrainian children,” but failed to provide any proof to back the claim.
The RT editor-in-chief said at the time that the false accusations were an attempt by Ukraine to make a possible hit on her “appear more palatable.”
Moscow has accused Kiev of the assassination of several prominent Russian officials and public figures since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, including chemical defense chief General Igor Kirillov and journalist Darya Dugina, the daughter of philosopher Aleksandr Dugin.
