"State security agencies should pay attention": Russia reacted to threats to journalists from the speaker of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed the Main Investigation Department to check the statements of the official representative of the territorial defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, published on the social network X.

Shortly before that, the head of the Human Rights Council, Valery Fadeev, announced his intention to appeal to the Investigative Committee and the FSB because of Ashton-Cirillo's threats against Russian journalists.

"Let's leave aside the appearance and manners of this half-girl, if the Ukrainian authorities believe that this is what the face of the Ukrainian army should look like, then, as they say, God is their judge. In this case, I am concerned about the fact voiced in the media of the threat of murder or grievous bodily harm," Fadeev wrote.

The day before, a fragment of Sarah Ashton-Cirillo's statement appeared on the network, which deals with a threat to unnamed Russian journalists.

"The world will see how the Kremlin's favorite propagandist will pay for his crimes. And this puppet of Putin is just the beginning. All Russian war criminals-propagandists will be overtaken and justice will be done," the report said.

According to Fadeev, the Investigative Committee of Russia "will easily see here signs of a crime under Art. 119 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation" (Threat of murder or grievous bodily harm).

"Given the sad experience of assassination attempts on Russian journalists and opinion leaders, there are signs of preparation for a terrorist attack (Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), so the state security agencies should also pay attention to this," the head of the HRC added.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Russian side would inform international NGOs about media threats from Ashton-Cirillo. She stressed that such a statement by the Ukrainian side would be another proof of the terrorist nature of the authorities in Kiev.

"Zombie apocalypse. We will send this further proof of the terrorist nature of the Kiev regime and its sponsorship by Washington to all international organizations and NGOs," Zakharova said in a statement.

Recall that in April 2022, Russian law enforcement agencies announced the prevention of an assassination attempt on Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyov. According to the FSB, the criminals, on the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine, planned to blow up Solovyov's car in Moscow.

In addition, according to the testimony of one of the detainees, they received assignments from the SBU and also discussed the possibility of killing the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya media group Dmitry Kiselyov, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and other journalists.

Later, in July 2023, the FSB announced the prevention of an assassination attempt on Margarita Simonyan and journalist Ksenia Sobchak.

Simonyan herself also drew attention to Ashton-Cirillo's statement.

"We will appeal to the relevant bodies and organizations. If these are not threats to the lives of Russian journalists, then I don't know what they are," Simonyan wrote on Telegram.

Commenting on the threats from Ashton-Cirillo, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, Sergei Boyarsky, noted that Russia is already accustomed to militant rhetoric from Kiev.

"Of course, working in the relevant committee and having a relationship with the media, I am deeply outraged by the fact that freedom of speech and the profession of a journalist are being persecuted both in the territory controlled by the Kiev regime, and there are already threats towards Russia," he explained.

As the deputy recalled, several attempts to assassinate leading journalists have already been prevented.

"We must wish our special services resilience and a professional approach in order to stop such threats. I urge all journalists to be vigilant. Once again, we can applaud their steadfastness and courage in their desire to continue their work in the name of justice and truth," Boyarsky concluded.

In turn, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, Elena Drapeko, supported the idea of sending a video with threats against Russian journalists to international organizations.

"Because there are international conventions, there are obligations that Ukraine has assumed, it is necessary to demand that they be fulfilled," the parliamentarian said in a conversation with RT.