The man is mentioned in the report by the first letter of his last name as “citizen K.”, while the SBU’s video also reveals his first name and patronymic, Andriy Mykolayovych K. or Andrey Nikolayevich K in Russian.
According to the SBU, as a non-staff representative of the Russian secret services, the detained man “took an active part in the creation of the so-called “DNR Intelligence Department” and other units of this terrorist organization (i.e. of the Donetsk people’s republic or DNR, – Ed.).” The “citizen K.” is charged with creating a terrorist organization.
The Prosecutor General’s Office, of the departments of which is conducting the procedural guidance of the case, adds that the suspect “controlled an intelligence network which under his guidance was going to commit a number of acts of terrorism and sabotage in the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine.”
The SBU published a trove of records of the suspect’s tapped phone conversations with GRU Major General Sergey Dubinsky (call sign Khmury), a Russian citizen who was “chief of DNR GRU,” and with Ukrainian national Leonid Kharchenko (call sign Krot), Dubinsky’s subordinate in occupied Donetsk.
These two interlocutors of the “citizen K.” are on the international wanted list as suspects in the case of shooting down Flight MH17 over Ukraine’s Donbas region in July 2014. The third person “K.” talks to is Vitaly Lunyov, “officer of the DNR industry and trade ministry.”
The Ukrainian special agency doesn’t provide any information on when the conversation took place, however, given that Dubinsky allegedly left Donetsk in early 2015, they occurred somewhere between June and December 2014.
The topics of all the revealed conversations are centered around the developments in Donetsk and upcoming meetings of “K.” with Russia’s FSB security service officials and the Kremlin’s handler for the occupied Donbas at the time, Vladislav Surkov.
According to the SBU, the conversations “reveal details of inter-agency wars between the GRU and the FSB for control over the “leaders” of the DNR terrorist organization.”
The interlocutors mention the names of FSB director Aleksander Bortnikov, his deputies Andrey Burlaka and Sergey Smirnov, Russian President Putin’s aide Vladislav Surkov, DNR leaders Aleksandr Zakharchenko, Aleksandr Borodai, Aleksandr Timofeyev.
Earlier, in summer 2019, Ukrainian special services detained Volodymyr Tsemakh, the head of “DNR’s” aircraft defense of Snizhne, who could be a witness in the MH17 case. However, he was among those exchanged to Russia for Ukrainian prisoners. Among other high-profile detainees linked to the so-called people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk were two “DNR ministers,” a celebrity female tank commander whose story was featured in a propaganda movie filmed in occupied Luhansk Oblast, and an organizer of the 2014 separatist referendum in Donetsk.
Read more:
- Ukraine arrests head of Snizhne anti-aircraft defense in summer 2014, possible MH17 case witness
- Two “DNR ministers” surrender to Ukraine. Will the rest follow?
- Russian celebrity tank commandress defects to Ukraine, leaks details on Russian involvement in occupied Donbas
- JIT charges four suspects over downing MH17, Bellingcat identifies eight more
- Intercepted phone calls show MH17 suspects’ connections to Russian military and Kremlin
- Novaya Gazeta identifies Russian colonel involved in shooting down MH17
- 1 soldier KIA, general linked to downing of MH17 identified
- “Donetsk People’s Republic” leader Zakharchenko killed in explosion
- Russia’s policies toward Ukraine remain unchanged month after Kremlin’s “gray cardinal” replaced
- Who is who in the Kremlin proxy “Donetsk People’s Republic”
- “Donetsk People’s Republic” ex-PM inadvertently admits carried out Kremlin plans
- Russian military leadership ordered escalation in Black Sea intercepts show
- The Surkov Leaks: Major report on Russia’s hybrid war in Ukraine
- Intercepted call reveals Russia’s concealment of Donbas casualties
- Glazyev tapes, continued: new details of Russian occupation of Crimea
