You're reading: CNN: Babchenko says he faked his own death with pigs’ blood and a makeup artist

CNN: Babchenko says he faked his own death with pigs’ blood and a makeup artist

By CNN.

Published May 31, 2018 at 8:30 pm

A file picture provided on May 29, 2018 shows Russian journalist Arkadiy Babchenko on November 14, 2017 in Kiev.Ukraine was under fire on May 31, 2018 after it admitted staging the murder of anti-Kremlin journalist Arkady Babchenko, despite relief in Russia and Ukraine that he was alive. Babchenko made a shock reappearance at a press conference in Kiev on May 30, 2018, less than 24 hours after the Ukrainian authorities reported he had been shot dead at his home in a contract-style killing blamed on Russia. / AFP PHOTO / Vitaliy NOSACH

Photo by AFP

The Russian journalist who staged his own murder as part of an elaborate plot to catch an alleged assassin has told of how he watched reports of his death from a Ukrainian morgue.

Arkady Babchenko said his death was faked with the help of a makeup artist and pigs’ blood, in a ploy that Ukrainian security services say was necessary to protect his life.