Russia thwarts 'assassination attempts' on two prominent journalists

Russia's security service (FSB) has said it foiled assassination attempts against Margarita Simonyan, one of Russian state television's recognisable faces, and against Ksenia Sobchak, a TV host.

The FSB said on Friday it detained members of a neo-Nazi group called "Paragraph-88" who it claimed had been hired by the Ukrainian secret service to kill the two women.

The FSB published footage showing several suspects being detained, as well as allegedly seized weapons and books on Nazism.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which in the past has denied involvement in assassinations of pro-war figures inside Russia.

Interfax quoted the FSB as saying that the detainees had admitted preparing attacks on the two women on behalf of Ukraine and had been promised a reward of $16,620 (1.5 million roubles) for each one.

Two media figures

Simonyan, the head of state-run television network RT, was already a vocal supporter of Putin before Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

"Keep on working, brothers!" she said in a message thanking the FSB.

Meanwhile, Sobchak is a well-known journalist and TV host who also has a popular YouTube channel.

"If this is all true, then thanks to all the services involved for their work," Sobchak said on Telegram. "If not, and if the point was simply to put me in the same sentence as Simonyan, then this is just plain mean."

Two prominent pro-war Russian figures, journalist Darya Dugina and military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, have been killed in bomb attacks inside Russia in the past year.

Russia blamed their killings on Ukraine, while Kiev denied that and portrayed them as evidence of Russian infighting.