Back in April, the SBU - Kiev's successor to the Soviet KGB - announced new criminal charges against Simonyan

Margarita Simonyan says Ukraine's secret police has made up lies by claiming she called for the "deaths of children" in an attempt to justify plots to assassinate her

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has come up with fresh outlandish allegations in order to justify assassination plots against RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, she said on Monday.

Kiev's successor to the Soviet KGB has announced new criminal charges against Simonyan, accusing her of being a "propagandist" who is furthering "Russian narratives" and endangering Ukrainian sovereignty.

The agency also claims that Simonyan called for "mass killings of Ukrainian children" in December 2023. However, it failed to provide evidence of any relevant remarks.

"They are doing this because they are preparing to assassinate me - and not for the first time," Simonyan told reporters, reacting to the announcement. "They've tried twice before, it was all over the news; now they're preparing again."

"As for what they're preparing to do, the way I see it, everything is in God's hands anyway - and God will judge them."

In an earlier post on social media, she explained that the Ukrainians would have a hard time justifying the murder of a journalist and a mother of several children, but by falsely accusing her of inciting violence, assassinating her would "appear more palatable".

"I'm a public person, I run my own social media. Everyone who knows me understands that I never called - and never could call - for killing Ukrainian children," Simonyan told reporters.

A Ukrainian court issued a warrant for Simonyan's arrest in March 2022. Last July, Russian law enforcement reported thwarting a Ukrainian plot to assassinate her, involving a group of Russian neo-Nazis who were offered $16,600 as payment.

Last week, SBU head Vasily Malyuk was asked about several high-profile killings and attempted assassinations against purported enemies of Ukraine inside Russia. While saying that Ukraine "will not acknowledge them in any way," Malyuk proceeded to offer some details about the attacks.

Simonyan's initial reaction to the SBU announcement was to joke that Ukraine was trying to limit her travel opportunities.

"They want to block my ability to travel around the world, believing that I will suffer from this. They think that everyone who supports [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not leave the French Riviera. I've got bad news for them - the only riviera which I would be upset about not being able to visit is my native Krasnodar Region," the RT editor-in-chief wrote on her Telegram channel.

The "modest" news outlet has been highly effective despite widespread bans, Dmitry Peskov has said

The West fears and demonizes RT because it is effective and staffed with talented people, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said.

Peskov was speaking at the 'New Media Festival' in the Moscow suburb of Solnechnogorsk on Wednesday. In response to a question about Russia's ban on Instagram, he explained that wartime requires restrictions, sometimes of a severe nature.

"I am firmly convinced that we have a duty to use all available platforms to convey our voice, our point of view, whenever possible," Peskov told journalists.

"Our media have literally been kicked out of Europe, uprooted if you will. Our poor little RT, which has been demonized, which everyone in the world fears like fire, as if it were some kind of global corporation - it is actually a fairly modest outfit. But very effective, crewed with talented people," he added.

In many places in the West, Peskov noted, RT has been "outlawed outright."

By comparison, he argued the restrictions on Instagram seem less severe. Peskov added that, in his opinion, once the need for them lessens, it will be possible to consider unblocking the platform.

Moscow declared Meta - the parent company of Instagram and Facebook - an 'extremist organization' in March 2022, citing its corporate policy that allowed calls for violence against Russia and Russians. Both platforms have since been officially blocked. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, has been allowed to continue operating.

The EU and Canada banned RT, as well as other Russian outlets, within days of the launch of Russia's Ukraine offensive in February 2022. Major US-based social media platforms, such as YouTube, were pressured to enforce a global takedown of RT's multi-billion view network. The US government has no legal grounds to censor media outlets, but has relied on private corporations to do so instead.

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