Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) today stated that, along with the Interior Ministry and Investigative Committee, yesterday they had arrested “neo-Nazis from the Paragraph 88 group who were gathering information at the work and home addresses of Simonyan and Sobchak.” Margarita Simonyan is the editor-in-chief of RT news agency and Ksenia Sobchak is a former presidential candidate, a well-known journalist, and daughter of a former St. Petersburg mayor, and close associate of Vladimir Putin. And “88” is a standard symbol for neo-Nazis. (It refers to the 8th letter of the alphabet, hence “HH,” for “Heil Hitler.") Five or six individuals were detained.
The FSB statement explained: “The detainees confirmed that they were preparing assassinations on the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine for a reward of 1.5 million rubles ($16,600) for each murder.” They were detained as they were carrying out reconnaissance on the home and work locations of Simonyan and Sobchak. According to RT, the statement went on to describe that, during the operation, law enforcement personnel seized a Kalashnikov assault rifle with 90 cartridges, rubber hoses, knives, brass knuckles and handcuffs, along with “computers with information confirming criminal intentions.” Further, they confiscated chevrons and flags along with Nazi paraphernalia and Nazi literature, as well as communications equipment. (https://www.rt.com/russia/579751-attempt-to-assassinate-rt-editor-chief-thwarted/)
