A military court in Moscow has sentenced 12 individuals to up to 20 years in prison for plotting to kill Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT.
According to Interfax, the main defendant, Mikhail Balashov, received a 20-year sentence. He was also fined 800,000 rubles (about $9,200) and banned from managing internet resources for two years.
Other defendants received prison terms of up to 18 years and fines. They were convicted of organizing and participating in a terrorist organization, preparing murder, and attempting to acquire weapons.
The investigation revealed that the convicts were members of the banned neo-Nazi group "National-Socialism / White Power." In 2023, Balashov was offered money to kill Simonyan, and they tracked the journalist before being arrested while trying to retrieve a hidden weapon.
