The website of the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office published the texts of suspicions against other people in the case of Oleg Kulinich, the former head of the local Security Service of Ukraine department in Crimea. From them itʼs possible to find out the details of his case, and one of Kulinichʼs accomplices was Volodymyr Sivkovich, a former Parliamentarian and Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council in 2010-2013.
The Court Reporter writes about this, and it is also mentioned in the texts of suspicions.
Suspicions in this case have so far been received by the head of the 9th Department of the Operational Information Department of the 5th Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation Igor Chumakov, an employee of this department Oleksandr Chulindin, a personnel agent of this Department Maryna Terentyeva, former deputy secretary of the NSDC Volodymyr Sivkovich and Kulinich himself.
According to the investigation, all of them were organized into a single group that collected intelligence information on the territory of Ukraine. The investigation believes that:
- Chumakov carried out general management, picked the goal and plans, used intelligence information for subversive activities against Ukraine;
- Chulindin carried out general coordination, current planning and analyzed the received information;
- Terentiyeva organized and collected information, as well as established channels for its transmission. Terentiyeva herself works under the cover of a photojournalist of the Russian news agency TASS;
- Sivkovych coordinated the activities of Kulinich and the persons involved;
- Kulinich directly collected information inside the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, Sivkovich agreed to cooperate with the FSB no later than June 2019. His motivation was to return to the political life of Ukraine "under the patronage of Russia". In June 2019, he created a "political office" in Moscow, where work is carried out to recruit people who can spy in Ukraine. The investigation believes that Kulinich was also recruited before June 2019.
Sivkovich and Kulinich communicated at least four times during 2019-2020. During these conversations, Kulinich conveyed information about the activities of the SSU, about internal contradictions and personnel changes. Also, Kulinich himself influenced these appointments, in particular, they discussed among themselves the need to appoint Andrii Naumov as the first deputy head of the SSU in order to take control of the SSU Counterintelligence Department.
The investigation also believes that Sivkovich tasked Kulinich with concealing from the SSU leadership Russiaʼs intentions to launch a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Immediately on February 24, at 01:03 at night, Kulinich received information about the Russian preparations for the invasion, which should begin at 4 in the morning. After that, he was supposed to transmit this information in an encrypted message to the leadership of the SSU in Kyiv, but Kulinich did not sign this message and did not give an order to his subordinates to transmit the information to Kyiv. According to the investigation, this significantly reduced the defense capability of the country, prevented the Armed Forces from preparing for the invasion and became the reason for the occupation of a large part of Ukraine.
- Security forces detained Oleg Kulinich on July 16. In October 2020, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Kulinich as the head of the SSU Office in Crimea. On March 2, 2022, the president fired him.
- After his arrest, President Zelenskyy suspended Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and removed SSU head Ivan Bakanov from his duties. Later, the Parliament fired them.
- The State Bureau of Investigations reported that Kulinich cooperated with the special services of the Russian Federation and gave them secret information. He was also a member of a criminal organization engaged in intelligence and subversive activities against Ukraine.