Prosecutors have sent to court an indictment against the former head of the SBU, his first deputy and the head of the Department for the Protection of National Statehood, as well as the director and 20 employees of the Russian Federal Security Service for conducting subversive activities against Ukraine, committing actions aimed at inciting national hatred and enmity in Ukraine, and illegally obstructing protests in 2013-2014.
This was reported by the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.
Among the accused are an army general, a former head of the Russian Presidential Security Service, a deputy commander-in-chief of the Internal Troops, and 5 other generals who held senior positions in the Russian Federal Security Service.
In particular, among the accused are:
- Director of the FSB, Army General Alexander Bortnikov;
- Viktor Zolotov, former head of the Russian Presidential Security Service, currently the Director of the Federal Service of the Russian National Guard, Army General;
- Colonel-General Aleksey Sedov, Head of the 2nd Service (Service for the Protection of the Constitutional Order and the Fight against Terrorism) of the FSB of the Russian Federation;
- Deputy Head of the 2nd Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation - Head of the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional Order, Lieutenant General Alexey Zhalo;
- First Deputy Head of the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional Order of the 2nd Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Major General Sergey Yegorov;
- First Deputy Head of the Department of Operational Information of the 5th Service (Operational Information and International Relations) of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Major General Vladimir Pavlik;
- Major General Andrey Yatsenko, a former officer of the 2nd Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation, currently Deputy Head of the FSB Department in Moscow;
- Oleksandr Yakymenko, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, who voluntarily took up the position of the head of the occupation security body of the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson Region;
- Head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood, who voluntarily took up the position of head of the occupation security body of the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhya Region, Serhiy Hanzha;
- Head of the SBU Anti-Terrorist Centre, former Major General and First Deputy Head of the SBU.
The investigation established that in December 2013, pursuant to a joint decision of the then heads of the SBU and the FSB, 20 Russian special service officers arrived in Ukraine.
The FSB officers were stationed in the SBU buildings and, with the support of the former head of the agency, his deputy and the head of the department, organised the creation of provocative videos. They created a YouTube channel through which they disseminated over 250 videos on the Internet and in the media. They discredited socio-political events in Ukraine and humiliated Ukrainians as a nation.
During the investigation of the crimes committed in connection with the mass protests in 2013-2014, the direct influence of the Russian special services on the former leadership of the Ukrainian special service was established in order to conduct joint subversive activities against Ukraine and incite national enmity and hatred.
It has been established that Bortnikov developed a criminal plan to suppress Ukrainian protests in 2013-2014 in order to preserve the regime in power in Ukraine at that time. The ultimate goal was the further annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine under the pretext of an alleged "civil confrontation".
One of the key tasks of the Russian FSB was to prevent Ukraine's European integration processes and membership in the North Atlantic Alliance's collective security treaty, as this threatened Russia's aggressive plans to restore the union state and absorb former Soviet republics into its fold.
The refusal of Ukraine's top leadership from European integration was planned in advance by the Russian Federation, so measures were taken in advance to prevent protests and scenarios were developed for their violent dispersal. To this end, in October 2013, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, visited Ukraine and instructed the NSDC leadership, including Deputy Secretary Sivkovych, to disperse potential protests with maximum brutality and use excessive force to intimidate other activists.
The head of the Russian FSB, Bortnikov, instructed the then Head of the SBU, who also held Russian citizenship, to assist the FSB officers personally and with the involvement of his subordinates in the dispersal and other activities.
For this purpose, the First Deputy Head of the SBU, the Head of the Anti-Terrorist Centre, put his subordinate special forces on ‘high alert’ in November-December 2013. The level of the terrorist threat was defined as 'Potential', which essentially equated the protesters with potential terrorists.
The grounds for such decisions were false memoranda of the Head of the SBU Department of National Statehood regarding possible terrorist threats from the protesters, approved by the Head of the SBU.
In December 2013, the Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on the instructions of the Deputy Commander of the Russian Internal Troops, began preparations for the violent dispersal and execution of activists. On 12 December 2013, he sent a letter to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine to allocate 4 million rounds of ammunition, 100,000 VOG-25 grenade launchers and other military equipment to the Internal Troops.
The former head of the SBU and the head of the SBU Department will also be tried for collaboration - voluntarily taking up positions in 2022 in the illegally established "security agencies" of the Russian aggressor state in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Since the defendants are hiding from law enforcement agencies and are on the international wanted list, a special pre-trial investigation was conducted in absentia.
The prosecution:
- Director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Bortnikov is accused of organising the commission of high treason by the former leadership of the SBU, inciting national enmity and hatred in Ukraine, and unlawfully obstructing protest actions in 2013-2014 (Article 27(3), Article 28(2), Article 111(1), Article 28(2), Article 161(2), Article 28(2), Article 340 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- Russian FSB officers - for unlawfully obstructing protest actions (Article 27(5), Article 28(2), Article 111(1), Article 28(2), Article 161(2), Article 28(2), Article 340 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- the former Head of the SBU, Head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood - of high treason by prior conspiracy, incitement to national and religious hatred and hatred, and a new suspicion of unlawful obstruction of protest actions, voluntary occupation of positions in the security agencies of the aggressor state in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (para. 2, Art. 28, Art. 111(1), Art. 28(2), Art. 161, Art. 28(2), Art. 340, Art. 111-1(7) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine);
- the First Deputy Head of the SBU - Head of the Anti-Terrorist Centre - of high treason by prior conspiracy, incitement to national and religious hatred and enmity, and a new suspicion of unlawful obstruction of protest actions (Article 28(2), Article 111(1), Article 28(2), Article 161, Article 28(2), Article 340).
The maximum penalty for these crimes is imprisonment for up to 15 years.