Arkady Babchenko not dead: Kremlin critic reportedly killed in Kiev appears alive at press conference

Russian war reporter claims operation was staged to foil plot by Kremlin to kill him

Russian dissident journalist Arkady Babchenko, who was reported killed in Ukraine, has shown up alive at a news conference about his own death.

Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), told reporters the agency faked Mr Babchenko's death to catch those who are trying to kill him.

According to Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian MP with close links to the police and security services, the "brilliant special operation" was a success and led to "the killer" and the "organiser of the murder" being detained.

Kiev and national police had said Mr Babchenko, a strong critic of the Kremlin, was shot multiple times in the back at his apartment building and was found in a pool of blood by his wife.

Mr Babchenko showed up at the news conference on Wednesday and thanked everyone who was mourning his death. With tears in his eyes, the journalist said he had “done his work, and was still alive".

“To friends and family, apologies for putting you through this," he said. "I’ve buried my friends… I know the feeling of revulsion. Apologies to my wife. Olga dear, sorry. There was no other way."

Thanking the SBU, Mr Babchenko said the two-month operation had been staged to foil a plot by the Kremlin to kill him.

"The most important is that they saved my life and stopped a bigger terrorist attack," he added, without elaborating.

The SBU said it had received information about the plot and had managed to prevent it.

Russia's foreign ministry said it was happy Mr Babchenko was still alive, but accused Ukraine of using his story as propaganda.

Konstantin Kosachev, the Russian parliament's foreign affairs spokesman, compared Ukraine's allegations to Britain's claims that Moscow was behind the nerve gas poisonings of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

"The logic is the same — to defame Russia," Mr Kosachev said.

Mr Babchenko, 41, is one of Russia's best-known war reporters. He spoke about leaving the country last year because of repeated threats against himself and his family.

It was initially claimed that Mr Babchenko had died in an ambulance on his way to hospital on Tuesday evening. Mr Gerashchenko said the journalist left his apartment to buy provisions and was attacked on his return.

"When Arkady opened the door of his flat, the killer cowardly shot him in the back, firing several shots," the politician wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

A lawyer by education, Mr Babchenko is a two-time veteran of the Chechen conflict, travelling first as a conscript, and later as a contract soldier.

Mr Babchenko fled Russia for the Czech Republic in February 2017, before eventually settling in Ukraine.

“There is an informed opinion that it would be a good idea for me to live outside our god-protected Motherland for a while,” he wrote at the time of his emigration.

His critical reporting of the wars in Ukraine and Syria have made him a target. Russian state TV was particularly forthright in criticising a blog post written by the journalist about the crash of a military aircraft bound for Syria.

Mr Babchenko has expressed “indifference” for the deaths of “military representatives” and reminded readers of Russian excesses in Aleppo.

Additional reporting by agencies.