Arkady Babchenko

Arkady Arkadyevich Babchenko (Russian: Аркадий Аркадьевич Бабченко; born 18 March 1977) is a Russian print and television journalist. From 1995, Babchenko served in the communication corps in the North Caucasus while participating in the First Chechen War. He later volunteered for six months during the Second Chechen War. After leaving the army in 2000, he worked as a war correspondent for more than a decade. Since 2017 he has worked as a presenter for the (Kyiv-based) TV channel ATR. In 2006 he published the book One Soldier's War, about his experiences in Chechnya.

It was reported on 29 May 2018 that Babchenko had been shot dead in his home in Kyiv, Ukraine. The next day, he appeared in person at a press conference with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The SBU said it staged Babchenko's murder in order to arrest Ukrainian assassins (allegedly recruited by Russian security services operatives) who were actually planning on carrying out the assassination.

Babchenko was born in 1977 in Moscow, Russian SSR. One of his grandfathers was born in Henichesk, Ukrainian SSR. His maternal grandmother is Jewish. In 1995, while studying law in Moscow, aged 18, Babchenko was conscripted into the Russian army and served until 2000 in the North Caucasus. He served in the communication corps in the First Chechen War and later volunteered for six months during the Second Chechen War.

In June 2022, Facebook banned Babchenko's account, with Babchenko saying in a post that he believed his strong reaction to the Russian shelling of a mall in Ukraine led to the ban. After leaving the armed forces in 2000, Babchenko worked as a war correspondent for more than a decade, including for Moskovskij Komsomolets and Zabytyi Polk.

Between 2002/2003 and 2006, the literary magazine Novy Mir published Babchenko's account of his experiences as a soldier in Chechnya in a series of chapters titled "Ten Episodes About the War." Novy Mir also published his short story "Alkhan-Yurt" (named after the Alkhan-Yurt massacre). "Ten Episodes About the War" was published in book form by Eksmo in 2006 as Alkhan-Yurt. It was translated and published in English as One Soldier's War.

In March 2012, in the act of political persecution, a criminal case was initiated in Russia against Babchenko for "making public calls for mass riots" because of the publication of a post about the possible tactics of For Fair Elections movement protesters.