The latest suspected Ukrainian plot to assassinate Margarita Simonyan and Ksenia Sobchak "once against demonstrates the terrorist essence of Volodymyr Zelensky's regime, which is already responsible for a series of terrorist attacks," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Saturday.
Zakharova said Moscow doesn't really expect any real response from international organizations over the foiled plot, due to the "pathological hypocrisy [which] has long been a political tradition of Western liberalism and its unconditional reflex."
The spokeswoman said that while law enforcement is still investigating the details of the case, "it is already clear that the reason behind the failed assassination attempt was the professional activities of the Russian journalists."
Zakharova added that the "Kiev regime" plotting this and similar attacks against civilians continues to enjoy the "thorough support of Western curators."
The FSB, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Investigative Committee carried out a joint operation to apprehend members of a neo-Nazi group calling itself 'Paragraph-88', with the suspects confessing to casing Simonyan and Sobchak's homes and places of work with the ultimate aim of assassinating them. The would-be assassins' curators from the Ukrainian military reportedly offered to pay the plotters 1.5 million rubles (about $17,000 US) for each hit. Various weapons, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle, rubber truncheons and handcuffs, as well as various Nazi paraphernalia, were discovered at the suspects' places of residence in Moscow and Ryazan region during their apprehension.
Commenting on the plot against her, Simonyan said she's gotten "used to living with the feeling that someone is after" her, adding that she hoped the arrested individuals "understand" that there are things "worse than death," and would "make amends for it all and try to build their lives in new way."
Sobchak, for her part, said that "regarding these preparations for an assassination, if all this is true, thank you to everyone involved among the security services for their work...In any case...any form of terror is evil, without any 'ifs' or 'buts'."
Both women's names are featured on the Myrotvorets (lit. 'Peacemaker') website, a Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry-affiliated website serving as a hit list containing the names and personal details of thousands of 'enemies of Ukraine', including Ukrainian, Russian and foreign political figures, journalists, celebrities and public figures.
Simonyan's name appeared on the list shortly after the site's creation in 2014, and she is characterized as a "Russian war criminal hiding behind journalistic activities." Sobchak's name appeared on Myrotvorets in 2018, and she is described as an "accomplice" in Russian "crimes" "against Ukraine," including over her repeated visits to Crimea.
Multiple journalists and political figures whose names appeared on the website's list have subsequently been killed, after which a "liquidated" marker appears in their profile. Russia has repeatedly demanded that the site to be shut down, citing the threat it poses to public figures. The server hosting Myrotvorets's server is reportedly located in Brussels, Belgium.