The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) detained the former acting commander of one of the units of the Special Operations Forces Roman Chervinskyi for abuse of authority.
"Babel" was informed about this by sources in the SBU.
The case concerns the failed hijacking of a Russian plane, which, according to the investigation, led to a Russian missile attack on the Kanatove airfield in the Kirovohrad region in July 2022.
According to sources, Roman Chervinskyi was detained on April 24 in the Ternopil region. A preventive measure will be chosen for him on Tuesday. The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office will request the arrest of the suspect.
- On April 21, the SBU declared the suspicion to ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinskyi. The materials of the Security Service say that Roman Chervinskyi and several other soldiers decided to conduct an "operation" to hijack a Russian plane without the consent of state authorities and special services.
- On April 20, it became known that the Security Service of Ukraine initiated a criminal case due to the unsuccessful operation of the Ukrainian military to hijack a Russian plane. The plan was that a recruited Russian pilot would fly to Ukraine, where Ukrainians would meet him, help him hide, and pay him.
- Two days after the attempted hijacking of the plane, the FSB of Russia announced that it had allegedly foiled a Ukrainian military intelligence operation. Propaganda Russian media accused Bellingcat project journalist Christo Grozev of participating in the operation.
- Grozev, in a comment to Radio Liberty, denied his participation in any special services operations. According to him, the Bellingcat team filmed an investigative documentary about how the FSB and Ukrainian special services have been playing the game for many years, trying to deceive each other.
- On his Twitter, Grozev added that his participation in this operation was limited to the fact that he was documenting the events for his film. The investigator called the special operation, which Russia tried to present as its achievement, "a serious mistake by the FSB", because the special service revealed the identities of dozens of counterintelligence officers, their working methods and other secret data.