The former head of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Andriy Naumov, who is currently in Serbia under investigation, told his version of the reasons for the accusations in Ukraine.
He told about this in an interview with the BBC.
Naumov said that the deputy head of the Office of the President (OP) Oleh Tatarov tried to influence SBU.
"His [Tatarovʼs] influence was too active and he constantly expanded the circle of those leaders who were previously beyond his control. There were promises of medals and positions, and various motivations were used. And when the managers became sympathetic to him, he directly assigned them his tasks, bypassing subordination. Yes, his influence was growing," he says.
Naumov claims that he sometimes received recommendations from Tatarov on how "to behave in certain matters", but he allegedly always appealed to the presence of his direct supervisor.
"If he assigns me these tasks, I will carry them out. For my part, I could go and find out if there is such a task from above. As a rule, I received the answer that there is no such task, do not go there," noted Naumov.
He calls all suspicions and reproaches in Ukraine planned discrediting, ordered by Tatarov and the deputy head of the OP Andriy Smirnov. According to him, this is how they strengthened their influence.
As for Smirnov, Naumov says that he had ambitions for SBU.
"He was the curator of the Service at that time according to the distribution of his duties. Therefore, all kinds of requests came from him. And he was interested, like the entire vertical of the office, in removing [ex-head of SBU] Bakanov, and, accordingly, in discrediting me. Everyone played their role," says Naumov.
BBC journalists turned to the Presidentʼs Office for a reaction. There they were told that they did not have any information regarding Tatarov and Smirnovʼs pressure on law enforcement and law enforcement structures, and assured that the OP acts only within the limits of the powers defined by the law.
In a comment, Smirnov completely denies all accusations against him. He says that he saw Naumov only once in 2020 and does not remember the subject of the meeting. He also claims that he and Tatarov have different functions in the OP and issues of criminal justice, including interaction with SBU and other law enforcement agencies, are not within his competence. Smirnov denies involvement in the discrediting campaign against Naumov.
"And the last thing is about a possible personal motive. To secure the release of Bakanov and Naumov and to secure the appointment of Maluk, whom I saw in person for the first time a few months after his appointment as head of SBU? That is, to achieve the appointment of a person with whom I did not have and now do not have any relationship — in my opinion, there is no logic at all," Smirnov added.
History of Naumov
Andriy Naumov started working at SBU in 2019. Until July 2021, he held the position of head of the Department of Internal Security.
Naumov was involved in the assassination attempt, which, according to investigators, was being prepared for him by the former first deputy head of SBU Dmytro Neskoromnyi. This case became known in January 2021. An employee of the "Alfa" special unit Yuriy Rasyuk was detained on suspicion of preparing the murder, he made a deal with the investigation and received a suspended sentence. Neskoromnyi, according to the case file, acted "out of motives of personal revenge" — he is still wanted.
On the night of February 24, 2022, a few hours before the full-scale invasion of Russian troops, Naumov left Ukraine. After that, "Schemes" wrote that the State Bureau of Investigation had started criminal proceedings under the article "treason".
On April 1, 2022, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stripped Naumov of the rank of general because he violated the military oath. On June 18, 2022, SBI stated that Naumov may be involved in the transfer of secret documentation about the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to the special services of the Russian Federation.
In Ukraine, Naumov was informed of two suspicions — of misappropriation of property due to abuse of official position and of fraud, which caused losses to the state of more than 3.2 million hryvnias. He was not charged with treason.
In early June 2022, Naumov was detained on the territory of Serbia together with German citizen Aleksandar Akst, who was found with hundreds of thousands of euros. Serbian police announced that the money and diamonds that were found during the search of the car "allegedly come from criminal activities". Naumov was tried. Ukraine was refused extradition. Now he is waiting for the final sentence of the Serbian court.