The SBU did not confirm the data on the criminal case against Babchenko

Journalist and blogger Arkady Babchenko reported in his Telegram channel that the Security Service of Ukraine has opened a criminal case against him.

Later on Tuesday, the SBU did not confirm the information in a comment to a number of mass media. “The information about the alleged opening of the criminal proceedings against Arkady Babchenko by the Security Service of Ukraine does not correspond to reality”, – says the commentary of the department “Ukrainskaya Pravda”.

In his post, Arkady Babchenko wrote that there is a reference for him in the database of Ukrainian border guards, and after crossing the border of Ukraine, he should be detained and taken to a pre-trial detention center for pre-trial investigation. Babchenko noted that he did not know under which article the case was being investigated and what became the basis for it. Telegram channel SOTA wrote with a reference to his message that the reason was Babchenko’s posts criticizing the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. “Polytika Strany” edition suggested the same, “Meduza” noted.

• Arkady Babchenko was a military correspondent for “Moscow Komsomol” and “Novaya Gazeta”. In 2017, the journalist left Russia and moved to Kyiv. In Russia, he was declared wanted, included in the list of “foreign agents”, as well as in the list of terrorists and extremists of Rosfinmonitoring.
• In 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine staged the murder of Babchenko, allegedly in order to identify the perpetrators of the present attempt on his life. After the victory of Volodymyr Zelensky in the presidential elections in Ukraine, Babchenko left the country. Recently he lives in Estonia.
• In January 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia placed Arkady Babchenko on the wanted list, according to which article the case was filed against him, it was not reported.