Former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko has claimed that the heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) asked for a group to be sent to Austria to carry out "violent acts" against him, supposedly on the orders of the President's Office. However, he did not explain why he had not returned to Ukraine after his official trip.
Source: Kravchenko on social media
Quote: "Back in September, I received information that a group of individuals had been sent after me to carry out unlawful acts of violence against me. I was told directly at the time that the heads of NABU and SAPO had requested that this group be sent."
Details: Kravchenko claimed that two military personnel from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine's (DIU) Artan unit were detained in Austria. He said that one of them had previously worked in NABU's surveillance unit, while the unit's commander, Viktor Torkotiuk, was also in Austria when his subordinates were detained.
Kravchenko also asserted that the group had received orders from the Office of the President.
Quote : "I also know that the orders to this group came from the Office of the President. However, to pre-empt possible speculation, I do not yet have reliable information about who exactly issued the criminal order. According to my information, Torkotiuk was promised a promotion in exchange for this.
I also see parallels with similar events that took place in Monaco this summer. Prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General are among those handling that criminal case. I have information about the circumstances of those events."
Details: Kravchenko also singled out journalists from Ukrainska Pravda who had been looking for him in Vienna. He claimed that Austrian authorities are investigating four people, including two UP representatives.
He pointed out that Mykhailo Tkach had been in Monaco shortly before the incident involving DIU personnel and in Vienna during their detention.
"The legal assessment of these circumstances, the links between the individuals involved and the nature of their activities in both cases fall within the remit of European law enforcement authorities," he said.
However, Kravchenko still did not explain why he had not returned to Ukraine after his official trip and remained abroad.
Previously: The former prosecutor general left Ukraine on the night of 13-14 September. According to an order he signed himself, he was due to spend five days in Paris to attend hearings under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Ukrainian children. However, his name did not appear on the list of participants in the discussion.
His official trip ended on 18 September. Ukrainska Pravda was told by Mariana Haiovska, spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor General, that Kravchenko had not returned to work by 21 September.
Read also: Three shards of glass under his eye and espionage charges: how a UP employee was kept handcuffed in an Austrian hospital
Background : Vienna prosecutors said the detention of Ukrainska Pravda journalists Mykhailo Tkach and Yaroslav Bondarenko was prompted by "eyewitness testimony". UP believes the law enforcement authorities exceeded their powers. The prosecutors did not answer a number of questions, including how they had verified the reliability of the testimony. Tkach and Bondarenko were detained on 8 October while carrying out an editorial assignment related to locating Kravchenko. According to Austria's Interior Ministry, Tkach was suspected of espionage, but the suspicion was subsequently not substantiated. On 9 October, UP editor-in-chief Sevgil Musaieva reported that Tkach had been released, although the newsroom had not yet been able to contact him. She also said that Bondarenko had been injured during the detention. Tkach said that, following their detention, he and his cameraman were accused of three offences : espionage on behalf of Ukrainian military intelligence, participation in a criminal organisation and causing harm to Austria. Tkach described how armed masked men smashed the windows of his car and dragged him and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko out onto the road as they were arrested in Vienna. One of the men then knelt on Tkach's neck as he repeatedly insisted he was a journalist. On 14 October, Tkach said that testimony from people linked to Kravchenko might have led to the Ukrainian journalists' detention in Vienna. He said UP had requested materials from the Austrian law enforcement authorities to establish who had provided testimony that may have led to the film crew's detention. He also noted that, by the time of questioning, investigators already knew that the detainees were Ukrainian journalists.
Earlier developments : On 29 June, an explosion in Monaco injured sanctioned Ukrainian businessman Vadym Yermolaiev and people close to him. Three people were injured in total, two of them very seriously. Yermolaiev later accused DIU personnel of involvement in the attempted assassination in a letter published by Nice-Matin . He claimed that the attackers had seen his wife and child beside him and suggested that their intention had been to kill all three of them. The businessman called for an independent investigation and asked the authorities in Monaco, Ukraine and France to guarantee his family's protection.
Support Ukrainska Pravda onPatreonto help us keep reporting!