Back from the dead or false flag operation?
(Baonghean.vn) - Recently, there is a word that is often used by the Kremlin and its representatives, which is "provokatsiya".
Literally, the word means “provocation,” while its figurative meaning is a “false flag operation”—covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or secret organizations to deceive the public into thinking they are being carried out by other entities.
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| Flowers are placed under a photo of Babchenko in Kiev after the journalist was "assassinated" at his home. Photo: AP |
Like a movie!
According to the New York Times, before May 30, this Wednesday, many people easily smirked and mocked the Kremlin's "arrogant shouting"claimis a crude way to divert public attention away from the obvious facts and ignore them, and fall into things that are unlikely to happen and silly conspiracies. But after Wednesday, “thanks” to the intrigues of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, it became much more difficult to refute such statements from the Russians. This time, it turned out, the Russians proved themselves right.
It was like something out of a spy movie: On May 29, Babchenko, who had long annoyed the Kremlin with his articles criticizing Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine, was shot three times in the back in his apartment while his wife was in the shower. The journalist had been living in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, where he had fled because he feared he would not be safe in Moscow. But even there, Russian agents found him, and Babchenko died on the way to the emergency room. Police said his wife was in a state of panic.
Babchenko’s colleagues in Moscow were shocked by the news. Many of them disliked him personally, or disagreed with him politically. Babchenko was reportedly so anti-regime that he once wrote that the dozens of children who died in a Kemerovo shopping mall fire were… atonement for Vladimir Putin’s crimes?! But on Tuesday, they put those differences aside. One obituary after another was written and posted on social media at a dizzying pace, all implying that this was yet another Russian journalist gunned down by the Kremlin for daring to think differently.
And there is little doubt that the culprit is the Kremlin. Russian-sponsored assassins are suspected of killing two journalists and a former Russian lawmaker in Kiev in the past two years alone. Who else would kill Russian journalists for their work? Who else would hunt down enemies beyond Russia’s borders?
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| Ukrainian police stand guard outside the entrance to Babchenko's apartment. Photo: Reuters |
It turns out Russia was right…
Immediately after the news of the assassination, sources close to the Kremlin explained that the whole thing was just a ruse.claim, that is, a provocation, a false flag operation. They argue with the opposite question: Why did President Putin kill an anti-Putin journalist when he would be the first person to be blamed? Aleksei Pushkov, a hawkish member of parliament, was certain that it was a plot to smear Moscow. He wrote on Twitter: “Why did the police come to Babchenko’s house just a few hours before his murder? Why did they look for footage from the cameras or turn them off? Usually there are no coincidences in such cases.”
Independent journalists have mocked what they consider to be a flagrant attempt to deflect blame. But that was before 6pm on May 30, when Babchenko suddenly “resurrected”. He appeared suddenly – alive, breathing, laughing and joking – and apologizing to his wife at a press conference in Kiev with the Ukrainian Security Service, the country’s successor to the KGB. It turns out that while the public thought Babchenko had died on the way to the hospital, he was unharmed. It was all part of a month-long operation by the security service to “trap” the man allegedly hired to kill Babchenko.
At first glance, it seems that the stunt worked and the killer, whom the Ukrainians claimed was about to carry out 30 “orders,” was arrested. Meanwhile, Babchenko’s apology to his wife also had a “deceptive” tinge, since it was clear that his spouse was present and participated in the incident. Thus, the scenario that should have been considered the least likely, that Kiev staged the incident to smear Moscow, turned out to be the truth.
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| Arkady Babchenko (center) appears at a press conference about his "death" organized by the head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Photo: Reuters |
When faith is shaken
The New York Times reported that Russia’s independent journalists reacted with fury. The entire morality and idealism that they thought their government had discarded, tormented, and stifled had been burned by Babchenko in a cinematic act of collusion with a state security agency. Who would dare to trust them anymore?
“This is a shameful, disgusting story,” wrote Ilya Krasilshchik, co-founder of the independent Russian news site Meduza. “I am glad he is still alive, but he has done even more damage to the credibility of journalism and the media,” said Andrei Soldatov, a writer who has covered Russian secret services.
Meanwhile, Yevgenia Albats, a prominent figure in Moscow’s opposition press, fumed that “the fake news theory has been confirmed and the Kremlin is celebrating.” Others pointed out that Babchenko’s stunt would have repercussions far beyond journalism. Tikhon Dzyadko, another Russian journalist, had earlier on May 29 criticized Russian officials for calling Babchenko’s death a “fake news.”claimstatement: “The whole purpose of the word'provokatsiya'"It's to convince people that everything happens for a reason, and that everything that's happening is part of a conspiracy against Russia. After Babchenko's performance yesterday, it will be harder to accuse the Russian authorities of anything. They will make an example of Babchenko."
"So the fake news theory is confirmed and the Kremlin is celebrating."
For years, Russian officials have been adamant about a “false flag operation” at the highest levels. When former spy Sergei Skripal was poisoned in the UK, Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the Security Council that it was “absolutely aclaim. Mr Skripal was poisoned near a British chemical weapons testing site! The poison was not Russian, it was British! And has anyone checked Mr Skripal’s pets, have they been similarly poisoned? Sitting in a solemn room at the United Nations, Mr Nebenzya repeated the wordclaimso many times that it's like listening to a rapid electronic remix.Until Babchenko’s stunt, it was easy to dismiss the whole thing as a hoax. But the anti-Kremlin journalist turned it into a real weapon. High-ranking Ukrainian officials, who had no idea about the fake assassination, took Babchenko’s “murder” to the United Nations, blaming Russia. What will they say now? What will their future legal claims be? After Babchenko’s “resurrection,” the answer will never be known.
