Three Russian journalists working for pro-Kremlin and state-affiliated news agencies have all found severed pig heads placed outside their front doors in the past week, state-run news agency RIA Novosti, state funded TV network Russia Today and Telegram channel 112 reported on Wednesday.
RIA Novosti columnist Timofey Sergeytsev received a plastic bag with a pig’s head inside of it on Tuesday, military expert Konstantin Sivkov got one on 20 September, while TASS photo correspondent Mikhail Tereshchenko discovered a similar package on 19 September.
The courier who delivered a pig’s head to Tereshchenko was searched and found to be in possession of four more pig heads in parcels. It is unclear who sent the packages. All three journalists reported previously receiving threats. RIA Novosti said that the police had opened an investigation.
Sivkov said he had not been in Moscow when the package was delivered to his address. “Someone called me, threatening to kill me and demanding that I stop supporting the actions of President Putin … It means the enemy thinks we are doing a good job,” Russia Today quoted him as saying.
Timofey Sergeytsev is a political strategist and the author of a 2022 article for RIA Novosti entitled “What should Russia do with Ukraine?”, in which he called for the “elimination” of Ukraine’s “neo-Nazi leadership” and spoke of the impossibility of Ukrainian statehood. In June, he was sanctioned by the EU.
