Legerdemain in Ukraine

In a development seemingly torn from a bargain-basement spy novel, Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko appeared alive at a press conference in Kiev last week, less than 24 hours after his death.

On May 29 Babchenko was reported by Kiev police to have been shot and mortally wounded in his apartment. According to accounts, Babchenko’s wife was in another room “when she heard what sounded like several loud claps” and entered to find her bloodied husband; it was announced that he died in the ambulance en route to hospital.