Moscow, November 13 – Maxim Druzhinin, one of the accused in the case of plotting an assassination attempt on journalist Vladimir Solovyov, has claimed that the television host was targeted due to his professional activities and active support of the special operation in Ukraine. The statement was made by Druzhinin during his testimony at the Second Western Military Court. The court is currently considering the issue of applying compulsory medical measures to another suspect, Vasily Strizhakov, who is believed to have committed crimes while being mentally unstable.
According to Druzhinin, the individuals involved in the assassination plot, including Pronsky, Belyakov, Stepanov, and Mokiy, planned to kill Solovyov because of his professional activities and support for the start of the special operation. Furthermore, the participants were supposed to receive a reward of one million rubles from their Ukrainian curator.
The arrest of six individuals, who were referred to as members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organization National Socialism/White Power (NS/WP*), was announced by the FSB in April of last year. According to the investigation, they had planned to assassinate Solovyov on the orders of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Prosecutor Milana Digaeva explained that the criminals intended to attach a bomb to Solovyov’s car, but their actions were preempted by law enforcement officials. Other options, such as a sniper shot or an explosion using a pizza delivery courier, were also considered. During the searches, the detained individuals were found in possession of homemade explosive devices, eight Molotov cocktails, six Makarov pistols, a sawn-off hunting rifle, an RGD-5 grenade, over a thousand rounds of ammunition, drugs, counterfeit Ukrainian passports, Nazi literature, and paraphernalia.
The suspects themselves admitted to planning the assassination and intended to flee abroad afterward. The FSB’s operational video footage also revealed discussions among the neo-Nazis about the possibility of assassinating not only Solovyov but also Dmitry Kiselyov, the CEO of the media group “Russia Today,” and Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of “Russia Today” and RT. They also targeted journalists Olga Skabeeva and Evgeny Popov from VGTRK, director Tigran Keosayan, and planned to set fire to military enlistment offices and vehicles with symbols of the special operation.
*
