The head of the MDI: Ukraine communicated with Belarus through the MP Yevhen Shevchenko

The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (MDI) of the Ministry of Defense Kyrylo Budanov informed that Ukrainian intelligence communicates with Belarus. For this, in particular, the MP Yevhen Shevchenko was used.

He told about this in an interview with the YouTube channel "Rasnye Lyudi" ["Different People"].

"We used all possible means of communication. They even involved, letʼs say, one MP. In order to prevent Belarus from being drawn into the war, this is the first goal. The second goal was when the Russian army was pushed out, to prevent a second approach from Belarus. As time has shown, this has now been achieved," Budanov noted.

He confirmed that it was about Yevhen Shevchenko. According to Budanov, intelligence uses his communications and connections.

"And heʼs efficient in the process. Shevchenko has been helping us for quite a long time and did not refuse when we asked for help," explained the head of the MDI.

• Shevchenko supports the self-proclaimed president of Belarus Oleksandr Lukashenko. On May 23, 2021, he welcomed the detention of oppositionist Roman Protasevich. Before that, in April, Shevchenko flew to Minsk to meet with Lukashenka, although Ukraine does not recognize him as the legitimate president of Belarus. After that, the "Servant of the People" faction called on Shevchenko to explain his visit, and he instead asked to be expelled from the faction. He stated that his political vision does not coincide with the party vision.
• At the end of May, the Servant of the People faction expelled Yevgeny Shevchenko from its membership. Oleksandr Kornienko, the head of the party at the time, noted that Shevchenko endangered Ukraineʼs relations with international partners and harmed its international image as a state guided by democratic European values.
• In July 2022, already after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, another scandal happened with Shevchenko. He came to the hall of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) in military uniform. The MPs noted that only servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations have the right to wear uniforms and forced him to change. Instead, Shevchenko then commented to "Strana.ua", a publication banned in Ukraine, that he was involved in intelligence operations and even showed the identity card of the MDI employee.