Charges Filed Against Members of ‘Paragraph-88’ Group for Attempting to Assassinate Margarita Simonyan

Members of the ‘Paragraph-88’ group have been charged with preparing an assassination attempt against Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia Today. This information was reported by Коммерсантъ.

According to the media outlet, the members of ‘Paragraph-88’ have been accused by investigators from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee of planning the assassination of the RT editor under the direction of the Ukrainian Security Council. They categorically deny their guilt.

Simultaneously, the investigation itself has excluded another journalist, Ksenia Sobchak, from the “hunt.” The youth claim that they only targeted foreign nationals and intended to keep the promised payment for the journalist’s assassination by deceiving the clients.

On September 6, an investigator from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee introduced new charges against the alleged participants of Paragraph-88. The administration has accused adults Mikhail Balashov and Egor Saveliev of crimes under Article 30 and Part 2 of Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code (attempted murder by a group of individuals motivated by political and ideological animosity) as well as Article 222 (illegal trafficking of weapons).

The charges remain unchanged for the four minors involved, as prescribed by Part 2 of Article 213 of the Russian Criminal Code (hooliganism).

According to investigators, the young people attacked foreign nationals in deserted areas. One of the accused's girlfriend allegedly set up appointments for the future victims, throwing prepared traps at them. The accused filmed the beatings with their phone cameras and posted them on their Telegram channel.

It is presumed that, upon seeing these actions, representatives from the Ukrainian Security Council contacted participants of these actions and offered them 1.5 million rubles to spy on journalists Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak, followed by executing their assassinations. The accused were arrested when they arrived to collect the advance payment and retrieve a Kalashnikov assault rifle hidden in a garage.

It should be noted that the Federal Security Service and law enforcement prevented the assassination preparations against Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russia Today and the media group RT, by Ukrainian special services, as well as journalist and presenter Ksenia Sobchak.