Ukrainian officials go after the journalists who leaked the ‘Babchenko hit list’

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian website Strana.ua published what appears to be the infamous “hit list” obtained in the sting operation that faked Arkady Babchenko’s murder. After some reluctance, Ukrainian officials confirmedthe authenticity of the hit list, which contains the names of 47 journalists, writers, and bloggers. The National Security Agency is also investigating the criminal disclosure of material evidence in an active case. Officials haven’t yet named any suspects in this investigation, but the maximum penalty for this offense is two years community service.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko confirmed over the weekend that the “hit list” acquired in the sting operation contains the names of 47 individuals (not 30, as previously reported). The people on the list are mostly well-known Ukrainian and “ex-Russian” journalists, Lutsenko said, including Matvei Ganapolsky, Evgeny Kisleyov, Tatyana Danilenko, Sonya Koshkina, Osman Pashaev, Yuri Makarov, and others.

Late on May 31, a Kiev district court placed a businessman named Boris German under arrest for allegedly organizing the attempted murder of the journalist Arkady Babchenko. At his arraignment, German claimed to be working for Ukrainian counterintelligence.