How Zelensky’s team is preparing to explain who handed southern Ukraine to Russian occupiers

How Zelensky’s team is preparing to explain who handed southern Ukraine to Russian occupiers

Bankova is actively preparing a line of defense regarding failures in the SBU’s work under Ivan Bakanov. He has already been removed from criminal liability. And he will keep quiet as long as no criminal cases target him. A key role in this will be played by the trial of Bakanov’s former aide Oleg Kulinich, who is suspected of treason.

The DBR and the SBU have already announced the completion of the investigation in Kulinich’s case and released some details. Before analyzing Bankova’s possible defense line, the publication Dylova Stolytsia briefly lists the facts about the Bakanov–Kulinich tandem.

SBU under the FSB’s hood

Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration took place on 20 May 2019. On the same day, SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak submitted his resignation report to the new president. Under the Constitution, the head of the SBU is appointed and dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada upon the president’s submission.

One could have expected Zelensky to submit a candidate for the new head of the SBU to parliament. But he decided to act around the Rada and on 22 May by his decree appointed his childhood friend Ivan Bakanov—then head of the Servant of the People party and head of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime—as first deputy head of the SBU (he remained party head until 27 May). From 3 June Bakanov performed the duties of SBU head. He was appointed head of the SBU by the new parliament on 29 August 2019.

These facts from four years ago are widely known. But they look very different in light of the information the DBR has now published—about the opportunities Bakanov opened up for the Russian intelligence agent Oleg Kulinich. In 1989–1994 Kulinich studied at the FSB Academy, served in the Russian federal counterintelligence service, and then (until 2006) in the SBU. According to the DBR, Kulinich was a trusted associate of Volodymyr Sivkovich—the former deputy secretary of the NSDC (in 2010–2013), who fled to Moscow after the Revolution of Dignity.

The DBR found that Sivkovich’s activities were coordinated by Igor Chumakov, head of the Ninth (so-called Ukrainian) Directorate of the Operational Information Department of the FSB’s Fifth Service. Together with the former NSDC secretary and ex-head of Yanukovych’s administration Andriy Klyuyev, Sivkovich created a so-called “political office” in Moscow to control the activities of influential Ukrainian politicians. “One of the organization’s main tasks was to introduce destructiveness into the SBU’s work,” the DBR notes. And Sivkovich succeeded. As the DBR states, “since May 2019, on the assignment of Russian intelligence agencies, Oleg Kulinich was introduced into the inner circle of the SBU leadership.”

That means Bakanov, from his first days leading the SBU, included Kulinich—an agent of Russian special services and a trusted associate of the traitor Sivkovich—in his inner circle. On 21 October 2020 Zelensky, by decree, appointed Kulinich head of the SBU’s Main Directorate in Crimea. But Kulinich’s sphere of influence was not limited to that post. “Informally he partially controlled the work of the counterintelligence department and other SBU units, and regularly misinformed SBU leadership about the real intentions of Russian special services,” the DBR emphasizes.

At the same time, Kulinich mastered all the secret information that Bakanov learned and influenced his personnel policy. “He had access to all classified information circulating in the special service and received up-to-date data about what was discussed at meetings and what was happening in the state.”

According to available facts, Kulinich passed all the obtained information to Sivkovich via the Threema internet messenger, the DBR asserts. “On Sivkovich’s instructions, Kulinich placed trusted persons in certain leadership positions in the SBU. He was primarily interested in regional units…” To support these words, the DBR published a fragment of a conversation between Kulinich and Sivkovich in which Sivkovich says: “We need regions. Understand? And in the first place you have to appoint border regions and Odesa. That is, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy.”

It could have been worse

In that same conversation, Sivkovich demands that Kulinich replace Ruslan Baranetskyi with Andriy Naumov as first deputy head of the SBU. That plan succeeded exactly halfway: on 26 July 2021 Baranetskyi was dismissed from his post. But placing Naumov instead failed: Bakanov dismissed him several days earlier at Zelensky’s insistence.

“President Volodymyr Zelensky removed a key person in the SBU under Bakanov who ran smuggling schemes, opened and closed criminal cases, and ‘squeezed’ businesses,” journalist Yurii Butusov commented, noting this was a “new redistribution of the smuggling market.” According to him, Zelensky expressed dissatisfaction with Naumov at a meeting for which materials were prepared by Oleh Tatarov. Butusov claims that as arguments against Naumov, “Zelensky presented the massive import of goods disguised as free postal parcels through the structures of Oleksandr Akst, which the SBU ‘covers,’ smuggling of Russian and Transnistrian cigarettes into the European Union, and criminal cases concerning smuggling that were closed under pressure from SBU leadership to preserve shadow profits.”

The main point for us in this story is that Naumov was not just “Bakanov’s wallet,” as he was called in the media: moreover, he was an agent of the Russian special services. And he had time to do a lot for Russia. As early as the summer of 2019 Bakanov entrusted Naumov with the post of head of the SBU’s Main Directorate of Internal Security. In other words, the structure that was supposed to detect Russian agents in the SBU was headed by a Russian agent.

On 14 October 2020 Zelensky by decree granted Naumov the military rank of brigadier general. If Naumov had not been caught in smuggling, he could have obtained the post of first deputy head of the SBU. And then, if something had happened to Bakanov, the Russian agent would have performed the duties of SBU head.

Chain of exposures

The exposure of traitors in the SBU began after the start of the full-scale war. On 31 March 2022 Zelensky by decrees dismissed Serhiy Kryvoruchko from the post of head of the SBU Directorate in Kherson region, and downgraded brigadier generals Naumov and Kryvoruchko by one military rank. “I don’t have time right now to deal with all the traitors,” he said in a video address to citizens. “But gradually they will all be punished. So now those who are no longer generals are former head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the SBU Naumov Andriy Olehovych and former head of the SBU in Kherson region Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych.”

Naumov calmly left Ukraine a few hours before the full-scale Russian invasion. His family had left Ukraine even earlier. On 7 June 2022 it became known that Naumov was detained together with Oleksandr Akst while trying to cross the border between Serbia and North Macedonia. Their car contained 600 thousand euros, 125 thousand dollars and two emeralds. According to the DBR, “at the request of the DBR and the Office of the Prosecutor General, the extradition procedure for Andriy Naumov from the Republic of Serbia, where he is in custody, is ongoing.”

As for Kulinich, in the first hours of the full-scale invasion he fled Kherson for Kyiv. Zelensky dismissed him from the post of head of the SBU Main Directorate in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on 2 March 2022. However, he continued to work for Bakanov. “Kulinich held the position of assistant to the head of the SBU for particularly important assignments and influenced many processes in the Service,” a source in the SBU told RBC-Ukraine. And until mid-summer the Russian agent passed information from Bakanov’s office to Moscow.

The DBR and the SBU detained Kulinich only on 16 July 2022. He was notified of suspicion of treason and creating a criminal organization. The next day Zelensky removed Bakanov from the duties of SBU head, and on 19 July the Verkhovna Rada dismissed him. And on 5 April 2023 the DBR and the SBU announced the completion of the investigation. After that the case should be transferred to court.

Line of defense

At first glance it seems strange why the SBU, overseen by Andriy Yermak, and the DBR, overseen by Oleh Tatarov, are blowing up the betrayal theme in Bakanov’s circle. Do they need it? But yes, they do—Bankova is preparing a defense line and an alibi for the postwar future, when questions about treason will inevitably be raised.

The trial will most likely be held behind closed doors under the pretext of protecting classified information. And even if unpleasant details for Bankova surface at trial, they will be buried under secrecy restrictions.

At the same time, Bakanov has already been removed from criminal liability. At a briefing on 5 April DBR spokesperson Tetyana Sapian said that “no criminal offenses were found in the actions of the former SBU leadership in the context of the investigated events.” In response to a question about Bakanov’s procedural status in the case, Sapian said: “All information regarding the former head of the SBU was checked, no signs of a criminal offense were found, and accordingly he has no status.”

A month ago the DBR informed BBC News’ Ukrainian editorial office in writing that DBR investigators are not investigating any case regarding Bakanov’s actions. According to the same media outlet, an internal investigation conducted within the SBU showed no violations in Bakanov’s actions.

So Bakanov is saved from criminal liability. And he has already borne disciplinary responsibility—he was dismissed. There is no doubt that Bakanov will keep silent as long as criminal cases do not touch him, and Bankova will try to preserve that status quo.

Of course, political responsibility and related reputational losses remain. But on this front Bankova is also actively building a line of defense.

First of all, the blame for all SBU failures is placed on Russia. For this purpose the DBR came up with the laughable formulation “on the assignment of Russian special services Oleg Kulinich was introduced into the inner circle of the SBU leadership.” Of course, Bakanov is not guilty—Kulinich was slipped to him. Whoever slipped him is guilty. And, all the more, Zelensky, who signed the decree appointing Kulinich head of the Crimean SBU, is not guilty. The culprits are the FSB, various Sivkoviches and Kulinich himself.

And the exposure of traitors is, of course, the authorities’ achievement. By the way, the SBU emphasizes that the development of Kulinich and the special operation for his detention were personally handled by Vasyl Malyuk—the current head of the SBU. “We did everything possible not just to detain a top state traitor, but also to gather a powerful evidentiary base on which the court can deliver a just verdict. This is a clear signal to everyone who works for the enemy: the SBU will definitely find you and make you answer for what you did, wherever you hide. We will bring every mole into the light,” he promises.

After the trial and Kulinich’s conviction (if he survives), another triumphant narrative about revenge on traitors and the triumph of justice will be pumped into society. Essentially, it will be a repetition of the same media strategy that, in response to all questions about failures in preparation for the large-scale war, offers the answer: we repelled the enemy. To that answer will be added: well, we exposed traitors and put them in prison, like Kulinich.

And it’s better to do all this now, while it’s still unclear how long until the elections. And later, when various “destructive elements” start pushing the betrayal narrative about the period before the full-scale invasion, accusing Moscow moles in the center and the regions, the authorities will say—well, we have long since investigated everything and even punished the guilty, that page has been turned, we need to look to the future.

Yurii Vyshnevskyi, published in DSNEWS.ua