Defendants in plot to assassinate RT editor-in-chief Simonyan sentenced to up to 20 years in prison

A Moscow military court has sentenced 12 defendants for involvement in the far-right organization “National Socialism/White Power” (NS/WP) to terms ranging from six to 20 years in prison, the Russian Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported. Among those sentenced were two defendants charged with plotting to assassinate Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state propaganda outlet RT.

Some of the 12 defendants were minors. They were convicted of forming and participating in a terrorist organization, robbery and hooliganism, publicly inciting extremist activity, and inciting hatred and enmity on the basis of nationality. Two of them — Mikhail Balashov and Yegor Savelyev — were also charged with plotting to assassinate Simonyan.

Balashov received 20 years and Savelyev 15. Both will serve the first four years in a prison facility, with the remainder in a penal colony. The remaining defendants, including the minors, received sentences ranging from six to 18 years. As the verdict was read, the defendants greeted it with a shout of “Glory to Rus,” according to a correspondent for the outlet Vot Tak.

Ostorozhno Novosti reported that a confrontation broke out between relatives of the convicted and journalists after the verdict was announced.

In July 2023, the FSB reported that it had thwarted a plot to assassinate Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak (Sobchak’s name later disappeared from the case). Initially, the security service announced the detention of eight suspects; that number later grew to 12. According to the agency, the killings were being planned by members of a neo-Nazi group, each of whom had been promised one and a half million rubles per assassination by Ukraine’s Security Service.

Mediazona reported that Mikhail Balashov and Yegor Savelyev were beaten after their detention. The outlet cited a witness who saw the defendants after their arrest at a police station on Novokuznetskaya Street in Moscow. According to him, Balashov confessed because he had been beaten so badly that he had no other choice. Yegor Savelyev, according to Mediazona’s source, was tortured with an electric shock device.