Journalist Kostyuchenko reports threat from Kadyrovites

Elena Kostyuchenko, a journalist of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, said that in the spring of 2022, she received reports of an impending attack by the Kadyrovites on her, and in the autumn of that year she was poisoned in Germany.

According to Elena Kostyuchenko’s story, on February 24, 2022, she went to the zone of the special military operation on the instructions of the “Novaya Gazeta”. On March 31, the journalist planned to go to Mariupol, and the day before, on March 30, a colleague called her and informed her about the impending attack on her by the Kadyrovites. Soon, the editor-in-chief called Elena Kostyuchenko. He instructed her to cancel her trip to Mariupol and leave the zone of the special military operation (SMO), after which she left for Germany.

Elena Kostyuchenko also complained that in the autumn of 2022, in Munich, she felt symptoms of poisoning for two months.

The Berlin Prosecutor’s Office began investigating the case on attempted murder, but on May 2, German prosecutors reported that the case was closed, as “blood counts did not give clear indications of poisoning,” the “Sever.Realii”* reports.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.