The Russian authorities are still investigating Arkady Babchenko’s May 29 death hoax in Kyiv, where Ukrainian officials staged the journalist’s murder to flush out a network of terrorist-assassins supposedly hired by Russian intelligence. Moscow denies any involvement in a plot on Babchenko’s life.
Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee has mailed a formal request to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta (where Babchenko worked in 2011), asking for a copy of his personnel file and a write up of his “characteristics” as an employee.