• Within the framework of the hybrid aggression against Ukraine, Russia applies the practice of individual terror in the form of assassinated murders. Preventing new cases requires, among other things, non-standard approaches;

• Journalist Babchenko was in real danger, an attempt on his life was planned in Russia and carefully prepared;

• In this situation, the key tasks for the Ukrainian special services and law enforcement agencies were both the preservation of the life of Mr. Babchenko and the tracing of the entire criminal chain: executor-organizer-customer. To this end, the organizer of the assassination attempt was meant, in particular, to obtain convincing evidence of the "success of the assassination";

• The risks of losing the ability to expose all participants to a criminal attempt outweighed all other risks in this case. The journalist himself, during a briefing in the Security Service of Ukraine on May 30, confirmed that there was no other way to disclose an assassination attempt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew_Lzag5gXY);

• The main result of the special operation is the rescued life of Mr. Babchenko and the arrest of the organizer of the assassination. A part of the collected materials was demonstrated during the briefing on May 30;

• As of today, appropriate investigative actions are ongoing. Ukraine’s position is as clear as possible: it is important now to complete the investigation, get information not only about the organizer, but also about the customers who will try to continue these actions against Ukraine in the future. The results of the investigation will be presented both to the Ukrainian society and our international partners;

• As Ukrainian President Poroshenko emphasized during the meeting with Mr. Babchenko, "We have finally learned to defend ourselves by protecting the country, protecting its citizens and doing it with the extraordinary professional efforts of the new SBU, which is able to tackle challenges of any complexity ";

• It should be clear for everyone that Russia's strategy remains unchanged: Ukraine's destabilization. Such attacks as an attempt on Arkady Babchenko are carried out in order to break the stability in Ukraine and show the inefficiency of the authorities and cause dismay of the society. We cannot allow this;

• Internal stability in the state is the greatest value of Ukraine in the face of ongoing external aggression. Saving stability and countering attempts to break it is an unconditional priority;

• the case of Arkady Babchenko enhanced the Ukrainian experience of countering the hybrid aggression of the Kremlin, which will undoubtedly be useful for our international partners, including within the framework of the appropriate cooperation between the special services and law-enforcement bodies;

• Ukraine is on the side of justice and international law in protecting its land and people from external aggression. Therefore, we strongly reject attempts to draw parallels between the situation with Mr. Babchenko and Russian propaganda. With fake news and misinformation, Russian propaganda creates a parallel reality to justify the Kremlin's aggressive policy. The reports of alleged "death" of Arkady Babchenko were part of an operational combination in the investigation of an attempt, and their addressees were the organizers and customers, and not the mass audience;

• We urge our partners to understand the course of the operation to prevent the assassination of Mr. Babchenko and to help mobilize international support to strengthen sanctions against the Russian aggressor and pressure on the Kremlin to release Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian prisons.

May 31, 2018