The security agency said the journalist was charged in absentia with offenses under articles of the Ukrainian criminal code that punish "genocide," "action against territorial integrity and sovereignty," "propaganda of war," and "justification … of the special military operation against Ukraine and glorification of its participants."
Ukraine's charges against Simonyan for allegedly undermining its territorial integrity go back to March 2023. It also accused the journalist of calling for "mass murder of Ukrainian children," although no proof was provided.
The Russian Federal Security Service said last July that Ukrainian agents were planning to assassinate the top editor of Rossiya Segodnya. The Russian Union of Journalists called the thwarted assassination part of Kiev's intimidation campaign against Russian journalists.