Conflict between SBU and GUR in Kyiv: two participants were declared of suspicions

Two participants in a shootout between officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate (known as GUR) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv were informed of suspicions.

This was stated by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko.

The SBU employee is suspected of exceeding official authority with the use of weapons, and the GUR serviceman is suspected of attempting to kill a law enforcement officer or serviceman.

Investigators are conducting examinations to establish all the circumstances of the shooting, including who fired and under what conditions. Separately, SBI has been investigating the disappearance of Stepan Kaplunov, a serviceman of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), who serves in GUR, since September 1.

Conflict between SBU and GUR

Late in the evening of September 1, a shooting occurred in Kyiv, which was repeated on the morning of September 2. As it later turned out, the conflict arose due to the disappearance of Stepan Kaplunov, the deputy commander of RDK, which is subordinate to the “Tymur Special Unit” of GUR.

He claims that he was kidnapped by SBU and forced under pressure to confess that he had communicated with the Russian FSB and agreed to carry out assassinations on its orders.

It was during the investigative actions in this case, when Kaplunov was brought to his apartment for a search, that the first shooting occurred. Kaplunovʼs brothers were in the apartment at that time. The second time, according to the commander of RDK, SBU opened fire in the morning. Three GUR employees were injured.

After the shooting in Kyiv, the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office launched a pre-trial investigation. President Volodymyr Zelensky first reported personnel decisions over the incident, and on September 3, he dismissed the head of the State Secrets and Licensing Department of SBU Oleh Khramov. The commander of the State Secrets and Licensing Department Denys Kapustin emphasizes that Kaplunov has not yet been formally charged.

Subsequently, law enforcement sources told Babel that the Russian opposition figure, in preparation for the assassination attempt of which Kaplunov is accused, turned out to be one of the leaders of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Akhmed Zakayev.

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