Now, let's shift from the Ukrainian West to the problems in Eastern Ukraine. In Donbass, shelling continues on the contact line. Moreover, Donbass catches more and more saboteurs sent from Ukraine.
Sergey Zenin has exclusive details of how it happens.
Vladislav Zaitsev, 19 years old, born in Donbass. He claims that for a minor offense, he was detained by the Ukrainian police. In exchange for release, he agreed to cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence. While attempting a terrorist attack on a rail line, he was arrested by officers of one of the special services of the DPR.
- Here, to this rail.
- How much? What amount?
- About 6 pounds.
- Did you realize that a train with passengers could go through here?
- I thought about it.
He attached, as ordered, two powerful charges. But he managed to activate only one as he hesitated. His task was as follows — to blow up this rail, then the train would go here, downhill, fall on the tracks and block the route from Donetsk to Gorlovka. But this didn't happen. There was an explosion 600 feet away from here. They fixed the track bed, and the trains went to their designated destination.
Zaitsev pressed the button on the wireless detonator a little earlier than he was supposed to. He harmed only the rail and himself. He'll be sentenced to at least 10 years in a maximum security penal colony.
Sergey Beshta, 52 years old, is another person whom the Ukrainian special services caught on a hook. Police caught him smuggling amber. The "nice people" at the SBU helped him go free. In exchange, they asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement and to blow something up in the Donetsk People's Republic. They assigned him a codename — Baron. Baron was detained in a garage when he was hiding another cache of explosives and weapons.
- What sentence were you facing for smuggling amber?
Sergey Beshta, suspect: They said it was from three to five years.
- And now?
- Twenty.
They catch such low-IQ people pretty quickly. Sometimes, the takedown can be rough, especially if there's information that the offender is armed. In the cell, these "disposable" agents of the Ukrainian special services begin to give up their handlers — every single one they know.
"Law enforcement agencies of the DPR know the units of the special services of Ukraine and their employees involved in the organization of terrorist acts in Donbass. In particular, this is the 5th Directorate of the counterintelligence division of the SBU, which was created with the active participation of the CIA. Currently, its chief is Roman Chervinsky, his deputies are Maxim Popov and Alexander Poklad. Their work is supervised by Alexei Petrov, who until recently headed the Counterintelligence Department of the SBU. Not long ago, he was appointed a deputy chairman of the SBU".
In the archives of the special services of the DPR, there are volumes of cases with codenames, surnames, and addresses in Kiev.
“All 5th Directorate operations in the DPR are directly organized by the Second Division. We know all of this division's employees that are involved in committing crimes in Donbass. In particular, I'd like to point out Sergey Motorin. By the way, he was born in Donbass and served in Slavyansk before. He is currently an assistant to the head of the 5th Directorate of the counterintelligence division. He's the one who's responsible for the deaths of DRP heroes Arsen Pavlov and Alexander Zakharchenko.
There are younger thugs. They're Vladislav Dolgozvyaga and Andrey Mushta. It's clear that they commit terrorist attacks not themselves but with the hands of their agents. In particular, their agents are Andrey Baidala, known by his codename Shwed, and his associates recruited from the ranks of Ukrainian nationalists — Andrey Otenko and Damir Bashtannikov.
Law enforcement agencies of the DPR and our brothers, the LPR, have photographs of not only these but also other war criminals. Their places of residence, marital status, cars they use, are known to us. We know what the employees of the special reserve of the Main Directorate of Intelligence do and where they live.
It was the special reserve that failed in Crimea in August of 2016 when it was following the instructions of the former head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Valery Kondratyuk. Kondratyuk managed to destroy all of the documents on it. But we have them.”
"Stand at the wall".
Sometimes, the pawns lead to more serious players in Donetsk itself. This is one of them. He's Sergey Gruzinov. In the list of agents of the SBU, he goes under the pseudonym SVD. He easily assembles an American sniper rifle.
Sergey Gruzinov: “They prepared me. SBU officers took me to a special shooting range. I later found out that it was a shooting range used by the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Even before I was taken to that shooting range, I already knew how to use a rifle and how to aim. Prior to that, Sergey SVD trained in Donbass as part of the so-called volunteer battalion.
- They gave me this weapon. They told me to carry it. They gave me the heaviest weapon. It shoots these small grenades. Here they are. They already fired it. We did it, didn't we, Sergey?
-Yes.
- Give me a good smile.
They planted Sergey in Donetsk under the guise of a merchant.
- Here are your documents. Which of them are real?
Sergey Gruzinov: None of them. None. None of them are real.
- How did you get a Russian passport?
- I was in the city of Donetsk. And the SBU officers sent me this passport using a courier. This one, the Russian passport.
They rented a store for Sergey SVD. He sold chandeliers and waited for orders.
Sergey Gruzinov: "They sent me a photo of that person and told me the address where he... where I was to... wait and look for him".
Ukrainian intelligence services ordered the assassination of none other than the head of one of the special units of the DPR. Kiev knows his codenames — Lenin or Ilyich. They describe him as a fighter, officer, brave man, and so on. He's known for his uncompromising attitude to criminals.
- Who's Lenin?
Sergey Gruzinov: “Lenin is Ilyich. He's my main target. I was to eliminate him.”
They detained Sergey SVD in his apartment in Donetsk, where he was staying.
“Main entrance. Clear.”
"Kitchen. Bathroom. Clear".
The operation against the Kiev intelligence services was carried out for several months. All this time, the Security Service of Ukraine didn't even guess that their agent in Donetsk gave them away. Meanwhile, Sergey SVD gave away his handlers and accomplices. They even managed to lure two of them to Donetsk. They came as a married couple. Hidden under the double wall of a gas cylinder, they brought an entire arsenal for their operation.
Here's some professional radio equipment, fragmentation grenades, and sniper rifle ammunition, which was custom-made. The intended gunman can tell us more about that. Here we see a radio jammer, some guns with silencers, and assault rifles, which also have silencers. We also have some remote control cars, and these aren't for kids. And here's a rather peculiar thing. This is a Luger pistol, a 1905 model. Wehrmacht officers used them.
On the instructions of the special services of Ukraine, Natalia came to Donetsk twice. On her first visit, she and Sergey SVD observed the apartment of Ilyich. She participated in the preparation of the murder.
"I knew that a murder was being prepared here".
For the second time, she was sent to the southeast at a time when Kiev was aware that their agent SVD had been detained. Natalia and another person were part of the unit sent to rescue Sergei SVD or, if that was impossible, to eliminate him.
"I don't think that it's the right thing to do. But it's a war".
An American-made sniper rifle was found in the apartment at the time of Sergey SVD's arrest. The technical specifications say that it's intended for firing at long and ultra-long distances. Special rifle ammunition came with the rifle.
Sergey Gruzinov: "The whole trick is at the tip of this round. When it hits a person, it causes injuries that are impossible to survive. And therefore, my instructor said that my mission was to simply hit my target, and it didn't matter where".
This is a failure; one of the biggest defeats that the Ukrainian special services have ever suffered. In addition to that, the third member of the group gave away the name of the man who ordered the murder of Alexander Zakharchenko.
Sergey Gruzinov: "In a conversation, I asked about the murder of Zakharchenko, whether he did it or not. Shwed said that he did it. He confirmed what I asked him about".
Shwed, who appeared at press conferences to supposedly give exposés, always wore a balaclava and dark glasses. For a long time, his identity remained unknown. But it was revealed a few days ago. He's Andrey Baidala. He's an agent of the 5th Directorate of the Counterintelligence Department of the SBU. He's the man who oversaw the group that prepared the murder of Ilyich, one of the security officials who swore to find and arrest the murderers of Alexander Zakharchenko.
The special services of the DPR work on a lot of cases. New persons involved, and with them, new information, appear daily. Officers don't doubt that they'll finish the case of the murder of Zakharchenko.
Sergey Zenin, Dmitry Malyshev, Alexey Yaldin, Andrey Rudenko, Oleg Bondarenko for Vesti Weekly from Donetsk.
