Ukraine's Chief Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko has said that the Ukrainian special services received a list of 47 persons who were to be targeted for assassination, and Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko was to be the first victim.
"We did not receive the information from the organizer, but we were able to get more information from his allies thanks to a special operation. And I was informed between 21:00 and 22:00 yesterday [May 31], that we got the list. We got a list of 47 people, which the organizer shared with a third person, and as a result of the special operation, we were able to identify them," Lutsenko told Radio NV on Friday, June 1.
Boris German was suspected of organizing the assassination attempt on Babchenko.
"The night after the staged 'killing,' the organizer called the 'hitman' and said he was going to urgently fly abroad and another half of money [for the contract hit] would be paid by someone else some day. It became clear that the chain may broke, therefore, the SBU Security Service was absolutely right when it detained German in the street," Lutsenko said.
According to him, most people on the list are journalists. "Most of these people are journalists from Ukraine, as well as journalists who have left Russia. Most of them are journalists, but not only them," Lutsenko said.
Lutsenko said he was not on the list. When asked about politicians on it, Lutsenko answered: "No comment!"
It became known on May 29, 2018, that Babchenko was reportedly shot dead at his apartment in Kyiv. Chief of Ukraine's SBU Security Service Vasyl Hrytsak said at a follow-up briefing on May 30, that the assassination was staged to prevent the killing of Babchenko and other persons who were targets for assassination.
The SBU is investigating German pursuant to crimes under Part 1 of Article 14 (preparing a crime), Part 5 of Article 27 (abetting a crime), Part 3 of Article 258 (an act of terrorism) of Ukraine's Criminal Code.
Hrytsak said German had offered US$30,000 to an acquaintance who served in the Anti-Terrorist Operation in eastern Ukraine to assassinate Babchenko. German was said to have paid a US$15,000 advance for the crime.
