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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The former detective links the investigative actions to an attempt to involve his colleagues in the Fedor Khrystenko case and a broader attack on anti-corruption bodies.
The Security Service of Ukraine in autumn 2025 of the year conducted searches of former NABU detectives who investigated the corruption back-office of Artem Shilo at Ukrzaliznytsia, but a year after these investigative actions they, according to one of the participants, were never interrogated. In an interview with Tetyana Bezruk for ZN.UA, former NABU detective Taras Likunov, who now heads the department of internal investigations, interaction with law enforcement agencies, and personnel security at Ukrzaliznytsia, told this.
The searches occurred about two months after the searches and detention of NABU detectives Ruslan Magamedrasulov and Viktor Husarov. In both cases, the investigative actions were conducted by the SBU. According to Likunov, he does not regard such a coincidence as accidental.
“They conducted the searches to try to pull us into the Fedor Khrystenko case and to create evidence that he allegedly employed us at Ukrzaliznytsia and thus carried out work for the enemy,” said the former detective.
This is his assessment of the motives of the investigative actions, not a court-established fact. Likunov also suggested that the SBU could have been trying to restore influence over Ukrzaliznytsia’s procurement after former NABU detectives changed jobs within its security service. According to him, at that time information was coming in that SBU officers asked Ukrzaliznytsia employees why the company was not paying certain contractors for delivered goods.
“And it seemed that the SBU wanted to regain control over procurement at Ukrzaliznytsia,” he said.
The former detective explained that after his team joined Ukrzaliznytsia’s corporate security department, the procurement approval mechanism was changed. Previously the security service could block tenders, in particular citing letters from the SBU about potential risks related to suppliers. Now, according to Likunov, it only provides professional cautions, not making decisions to block procurements.
He drew special attention to how the searches ended.
“We were not interrogated at all. During the search I was handed three subpoenas for questioning. The interrogation did not take place because the investigator kept postponing it. Moreover, my colleagues sent motions asking to interrogate them as witnesses. There was no response,” Likunov said.
According to him, the motion to conduct the search was approved by then-General Prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko. Likunov believes that for the prosecutor general to participate in approving such a motion there was no separate procedural necessity, since at that time he was no longer an NABU detective.
“His signature did not evoke any emotions in me, but it gave the impression that this was not a routine search. I decided that this was connected to an attack on NABU, because there was no other explanation,” he noted.
The head of Likunov’s department at Ukrzaliznytsia, also a former NABU detective, Oleksandr Rykovtsev, believes that since July 2025 of the year a systematic campaign of pressure on NABU detectives, SAP prosecutors, and people involved in top corruption investigations has been ongoing. According to the information provided in the interview, Rykovtsev sent official letters to the head of the SBU and the Attorney General.
Commenting on possible protections against such pressure, Likunov stressed the role of courts. He positively evaluated the standards of human rights compliance at the High Anti-Corruption Court, while sharply criticizing the practices of Kyiv’s Pechersky District Court.
The searches took place amid a confrontation over the independence of NABU and SAP, as well as criminal proceedings against certain NABU detectives. At the same time, the circumstances cited by Likunov do not justify concluding that the criminal case in which the searches were conducted has been closed or that the investigative actions were officially deemed unfounded. He spoke about the lack of interrogations and assessed possible motives of the SBU.
Artem Shilo was charged in spring 2024 of the year. As early as November 2022 year, in the Bihus.Info investigation, it was stated that Artem Shilo, after ten years in public service, had accumulated property worth almost $4 million. He was also described as close to the deputy head of the president’s office, Oleh Tatarov, and to those who “watch over the railway.” Additionally, Shilo is associated with the emergence of the Russian bookmaker 1xBet in Ukraine.
At the same time, before the charge was announced, Artem Shilo was dismissed from his post as head of the security service at SBU. According to ZN.UA, the initiator of the resignation was President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In the case concerning Ukrzaliznytsia procurement in 2021–2023 years, the investigation established losses of 182 million UAH. In early October 2026 year, the High Anti-Corruption Court approved the settlement with the investigation, concluded with Artem Shilo.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "СБУ провела обшуки в ексдетективів НАБУ, які розслідували справу Шила, але за рік їх так і не допитали — Лікунов". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZN.ua.
