but a day later arkady babchenko was back from the dead.—kremlin journalist reported killed in ukraine is actually alive. tonight, for the first time, the inside story of the fake murder. translation: they put pigs' blood in my mouth and then when i was shot, i fell to my knees and coughed to make the blood splatter. babchenko's wife tells her side of the story. translation: you just can't believe it. you don't want to believe it. and we track down the hit man. it's a tale worthy of a spy thriller, but in an age of fake news, was the truth the real casualty? i'm jonah fisher. for the last few weeks i've been on the trail of an extraordinary murder mystery. it happened here in kiev, the capital of ukraine. and at the heart of it is one man. babchenko is a russianjournalist. he fled moscow last year after receiving death threats and got a job with the ukrainian tv station. he is an outspoken critic of vladimir putin. translation: he's a usurper, a little dictator who lives completely in his own world. he wants to be like napoleon. collecting

but a day later arkady babchenko was back from the dead.t, for the first time, the inside story of the fake murder. translation: they put pigs' blood in my mouth and then when i was shot, i fell to my knees and coughed to make the blood splatter. babchenko's wife tells her side of the story. translation: you just can't believe it. you don't want to believe it. and we track down the hit man. it's a tale worthy of a spy thriller, but in an age of fake news, was the truth the real casualty? i'm jonah fisher. for the last few weeks i've been on the trail of an extraordinary murder mystery. it happened here in kiev, the capital of ukraine. and at the heart of it is one man. babchenko is a russianjournalist. he fled moscow last year after receiving death threats and got a job with the ukrainian tv station. he's an outspoken critic of vladimir putin. translation: he's a usurper, a little dictator who lives completely in his own world. he wants to be like napoleon. collecting together all russian lands. but ukraine, which sees itself as being at wa

why was the decision taken to fake arkady babchenko's murder?ranslation: because we were told that there were several units in ukraine, and that this assassination is a test run for others. only by staging this crime could we get the list of targets. we had to know more about who was involved in preparing and commissioning this terrible crime. what was the price for killing babchenko? did you discuss how the murder would be carried out? it was time to let arkady babchenko know that there was a price on his head. sbu agents told him of their audacious plot. they wanted to stage his murder to flush out those who'd ordered the killing. translation: my first thought was not to trust them, that maybe it's a set—up. ijust wanted to grab my family and flee somewhere like australia or antarctica, where they can't find us. but then it became clear to me, why should we run? here are people who came to kill and we have a chance to stop them. we need to do this. why should we do nothing? now arkady babchenko had to let his wife olga in on the plan. translat

russia as a state has nothing to do with arkady babchenko. a free world, he can do whatever he wants. and actually before that case nobody even... i mean the international community on a high level, nobody has no idea who is arkady babchenko, honestly. if there is a russian link, as ukraine claims, it leads through the only man who has so far been arrested. the middleman. this is a court hearing for borys herman, the man allegedly at the centre of this plot. it's a chance for him to put his case and try and explain his role in this bizarre episode. borys herman admits plotting both with the fake assassin and a contact in russia. but his defence is that he, too, was playing a role and was also working with ukraine's sbu. mr herman, why should we believe that you didn't want to kill arkady babchenko? mr herman, what this ultimately boils down to is are you working as an agent for russia? mr herman's story has changed several times and, despite repeated requests from the bbc, he has been unable to back up his claim that he was working with the s

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko is still fearful for his life.your disguise. this was the staged picture of the russian journalist that convinced the world that he'd been killed. 20 hours later, to widespread astonishment, he was unveiled alive and well. it had all been an elaborate sting operation by ukraine's security service. for the fake murder, there was of course a fake killer. the hit man used to be an orthodox priest, but tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hit man was in fact working with ukraine's security service, the spu, and recorded all of their interactions. the spu then decided to fake the murder, to try and expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. 0n the big night, babchenko lay on the floor smeared in pigs blood. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at last stop pretending to be dead. translation: i was wrapped up in a sheet like gandhi, smoking a

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko is still fearful for his life.been killed. 20 hours later, to widespread astonishment, he was unveiled alive and well. it had all been an elaborate sting operation by ukraine's security service. for the fake murder, there was of course a fake killer. the hit man used to be an orthodox priest, but tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hit man was in fact working with ukraine's security service, the spu, and recorded all of their interactions. the spu then decided to fake the murder, to try and expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. on the big night, babchenko lay on the floor smeared in pigs blood. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at last stop pretending to be dead. translation: i was wrapped up in a sheet like gandhi, smoking and watching the tv news about what a wonderful guy i was. all this time, his wife olga was having to kee

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko is still fearful for his life.ad been killed. 20 hours later, to widespread astonishment, he was unveiled alive and well. it had all been an elaborate sting operation by ukraine's security service. but as the dust settled, there were more questions than answers. to try and find out exactly what happened and why, the bbc has spoken to all the key players. for the fake murder there was, of course, a fake killer. the hitman used to be an orthodox priest, but tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hitman was in fact working with ukraine's security service, the sbu, and recorded all their interactions. the sbu then decided to fake the murder to try to expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. 0n the big night, babchenko lay on the floor, smeared in pigs blood, and waited for the fake hitman to appear. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at l

but a day later arkady babchenko was back from the dead.. tonight, for the first time, the inside story of the fake murder. translation: they put pigs‘ blood in my mouth

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko is still fearful for his life.g operation by ukraine's security service. but as the dust settled, there were more questions than answers. to try and find out exactly what happened and why, the bbc has spoken to all the key players. for the fake murder there was, of course, a fake killer. the hitman used to be an orthodox priest that tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hitman was in fact working with ukraine's security service, the sbu, and recorded all their interactions. the sbu then decided to fake the murder to try to expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. on the big night, babchenko lay on the floor, smeared in pigs blood, and waited for the fake hit man to appear. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at last stop pretending to be dead. translation: i took off my clothes all covered in blood by then i was as cold as a stray dog

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko is still fearful for his life.an elaborate sting operation by ukraine's security service. for the fake murder, there was of course a fake killer. the hit man used to be an orthodox priest, but tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hit man was in fact working with ukraine's security service, the spu, and recorded all of their interactions. the spu then decided to fake the murder, to try and expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. on the big night, babchenko lay on the floor smeared in pigs blood. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at last stop pretending to be dead. translation: i was wrapped up in a sheet like gandhi, smoking and watching the tv news about what a wonderful guy i was. all this time, his wife olga was having to keep an impossible secret. translation: i envied him because he did not have to talk to anyone. a few hours

this is russian dissident journalist arkady babchenko, who was pronounced dead by ukranian security forcesnce 24 hours later. in a bbc investigation, jonah fisher has spoken to all of the key players to find out what really happened in the fake murder plot. two months after he was pronounced dead, this man is still fearfulfor his life. you are wearing a disguise. this was the stage picture of the russian journalist that convinced the world that he had been killed. 20 hours later, to widespread astonishment, he was unveiled alive and well. it had all been an elaborate sting operation by the ukraine security services. for the ukraine security services. for the fake murder, there was, of course, a fake killer. they had man used to be an orthodox priest, but tells me he was approached by an old contact and agreed to kill the journalist for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, they had man was in fact working with ukraine's cookie service, the spu, and recorded the interactions. the spu then decided to fake the murder to try to expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents i

two months after he was pronounced dead, arkady babchenko, is still fearful for his life.ler. the hit man used to be an orthodox priest but tells me he was approached by an old contact and a creed to kill arkady babchenko for $30,000. while pretending to cooperate, the hit man was working with ukraine's security service that sbu and then recorded of their interactions. the sbu then decided to fake the murder to try and expose what it suspected was a russian plot to kill dissidents in kiev. on the big night, babchenko lay on the floor smeared in pigs blood. an ambulance was called and babchenko taken to the morgue, where, away from prying eyes, he could at last stop pretending to be dead. translation: i'd wrapped up in a sheet like gandhi, smoking and watching the tv news about what a wonderful guy i was. all this time, his wife olga was having to keep an impossible secret. translation: i envied him because he did not have to talk to anyone. a few hours later it was all over and babchenko made his remarkable comeback. their operation complete, ukraine's security service was