MOSCOW - The Kremlin on Wednesday described an allegation by Ukraine that it was behind the murder of a dissident Russian journalist in Kiev as an anti-Russian smear and demanded that Ukraine conduct a genuine investigation into the killing.
Arkady Babchenko, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Tuesday in the Ukrainian capital, where he lived in exile. He fled Russia after he received threats for saying he did not mourn the victims of a Russian defense ministry plane crash in 2016.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described allegations by Ukrainian government officials that Moscow was behind the murder as "the height of cynicism" and said he hoped other countries would lean on Kiev to do more to protect journalists.