RT's chief editor too 'meaningless' for Ukraine to assassinate: Zelensky aide

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russian state TV figures including head of the RT news network are "too meaningless" to assassinate, after Russia's security service (FSB) said it had foiled an assassination plot against two prominent Russian journalists by Ukrainian operatives.

"The Federal Security Service jointly with the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry of Russia has foiled the assassination of Editor-in-Chief of RT TV Channel and Russia Today international news agency Margarita Simonyan plotted by Ukrainian special services. According to available data, the murder of Ksenia Sobchak was also plotted," FSB's press office said in a statement on Saturday.

Seven people have been detained by Russian authorities in relation to the assassination plot.

Kiev, however, appeared to deny any involvement in the reported incident, with presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak insisting in an interview with state broadcaster, Suspilne, that "We definitely do not need them." 

"They have no impact on anything," Podolyak further claimed. "They do not play an important role in what is happening today, neither within the framework of the war as a whole, nor within the framework of Russia's loss of positions in the global sense."

"They are meaningless," he reiterated.

Russia: FSB foils Ukraine's plot to murder RT's Chief Editor

Russian security service foils Ukraine

FSB said its officers detained members of the Neo-Nazi Paragraph-88 group in Moscow and the Ryazan Region who were stalking the targeted journalists at their work places and homes, adding, "During investigative measures, they confirmed their plotting of the assassination attempt on an assignment from the Ukrainian Security Service for a reward of 1.5 million rubles for each murder."

Officers during an investigation discovered a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 90 rounds of ammunition, knives, knuckle-dusters, rubber clubs, handcuffs, chevrons with Nazi insignia, Nazi literature, and also communications means and computers with information confirming their criminal intent, the FSB press office said.

"The Investigative Committee plans to institute criminal cases against the detained suspects on extremist and terrorist counts," the FSB said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has in the past condemned Ukrainian sabotage operations inside Russia as "terrorist" attacks.

Moscow launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine in late February 2022, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia cited two objectives for its military campaign in Donbas, namely “de-Nazifying” and "demilitarizing" the region.

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