FSB Detains 'Neo-Nazis' Plotting to Kill Russian Journalist Solovyev on Kiev Instructions

"Russia's FSB, together with the Investigative Committee, detained a group of members of the Russian 'neo-Nazi' terrorist organization 'National Socialism/White Power' that planned the murder of famous journalist Vladimir Solovyov on the instructions of the Ukrainian Security Service," the FSB said in a statement.

The members of the group have confessed to preparing the journalist's murder, the statement read, adding that the collection of evidence of the criminal activities of the detainees continues.

Media personalities in this present difficult environment should have protection, says Vladimir Solovyov, head of the Russian Union of Journalists. He was commenting on the planned assassination of his namesake, presenter of the Rossiya 1 TV channel, Vladimir Solovyov.

"We know about the situation. Of course, it’s good that the special services worked so quickly, that these people were detained, that they confessed to such a plan, and of course, in such a difficult situation, it would be worthwhile for well-known media personalities to have protection,” Solovyov said.

Solovyov believes that large corporations such as Channel One, Russia-1 and NTV have their own security service and said: "I think media personalities already have such protection."

Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, commenting on Kiev's plans to kill Solovyov, said that lies are the only way media work in Ukraine, as the ruling regime has been fighting against freedom of speech.

He also stressed that persecution and killings of journalists in Ukraine have become routine practice, condemned by neither the government nor society.

"The murderers of the brightest journalist and writer, Oles Buzina, have never been punished, and when they were released from a remand centre, the crowd took them in their arms. The Nazis sought to burn journalists, for example in the Odessa Trade Unions House, by setting fire to the television studio of Ukrainian broadcaster Inter. That time, colleagues only narrowly managed to get up to a roof through a hatch that was luckily not closed. Otherwise they would have been burned alive with all the equipment, and that was the plan," Kiselev added.

Vladimir Solovyov is a Russian journalist and public figure, TV and radio presenter, author of documentaries and books, candidate of economic sciences. Winner of several awards, including state awards.