Sabotage at military warehouses in Ukraine, Czech Republic linked to Russian special services

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) reported the information.

"The State Bureau of Investigation has fully proved the involvement of Russian special services in the 2014 explosions at military warehouses in the Czech Republic, where weapons for Ukraine were stored, as well as military warehouses in Svatove, Luhansk region, in 2015," the statement said.

The SBI, in cooperation with Ukraine Security Service (SBU) and under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, served the suspects with notices of suspicion:

• Igor Sergun, former head of the Main Department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (he headed the department until 2016);
• former Putin's bodyguard Alexei Dyumin, who served as the head of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian GRU from 2013 to 2015; 
• Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, Major General Valery Flustikov; 
• Major General Andrey Averyanov, commander of the 161st Special Forces Training Center of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. 

The latter is a member of Putin's inner circle and often attends official high-level meetings.

In addition, over 25 other direct organizers and executors of the sabotage from among the Russian special services were suspected. Among them are the world-famous Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, who were involved in the attempt to poison the Skripals in Salisbury.

"Suspicion was also served on the accomplices of the Russian saboteurs - collaborators from Ukraine. One of them directly controlled the UAV that dropped the explosives on Svatove. This is a citizen of Ukraine with the call sign Start, who joined the terrorist organization "Luhansk People's Republic" in 2014 and later began working for the Russian special services," the statement said.

Sabotage in the EU

After all the examinations are completed, it is planned to serve suspicion notices to over 50 active servicemen of the Russian General Staff who committed sabotage in Ukraine and the EU.

In the course of the joint investigation with Czech colleagues, Ukrainian law enforcement officers established that it was Russian saboteurs who blew up military warehouses in the Czech Republic in 2014. Mishkin and Chepiga played an important role in the sabotage operation.

On October 29, 2015, they carried out a similar sabotage operation at a military depot in Svatove. A version of the GRU group's involvement in explosions at other military depots in Ukraine and abroad is being worked out.

"The Russian special forces are suspected of organizing and directing the preparation of sabotage in both Ukraine and the Czech Republic - committing explosions aimed at weakening the state, mass destruction of people and destruction and damage to objects of defense importance, that is, committing a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 28 and Article 113 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," the SBI wrote.

Note: according to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be criminally punished until his or her guilt is proved in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict.

• On September 27, the Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany announced that it is investigating a crime involving Russian soldiers in Hostomel, Kyiv region. This crime pertains to the shooting of civilians, resulting in an injury to a German citizen.