Ukrainian officials say they've detained another suspect in the attempted murder of Arkady Babchenko

Ukrainian law enforcement say they’ve detained another suspect in the alleged murder plot against journalist Arkady Babchenko. Bohdan Tyvodar, the head of the Ukrainian National Security Agency’s investigations department, told the news agency 112 on Friday that the suspect was detained on June 13. Officials aren’t releasing his name, but they have said he’s a Ukrainian citizen and his surname begins with the letter “T.”

According to Tyvodar, this “Mr. T” managed a group of Ukrainian citizens whom the organizers of the plot against Babchenko planned to send from Rostov-on-Don to Ukraine, in order to carry out a series of “terrorist attacks.”

Ukrainian officials have also formally named Vyacheslav Pivovarnik, who Boris German says was his “Russian contact,” as the alleged organizer of Babchenko’s attempted murder.

“It was these two individuals [German and Pivovarnik] who colluded with representatives of Russian intelligence agencies to carry out acts of terrorism in Ukraine,” Tyvodar claims.

112.ua

• Ukrainian officials have accused Russian intelligence agencies of trying to organize the killing of dozens of prominent journalists and writers in Ukraine, including Arkady Babchenko. Police arrested Boris German shortly after staging Babchenko’s murder in late May. German says he was working as a Ukrainian counterintelligence agent to catch Pivovarnik, whom he describes as a “staff member at a Putin foundation.”