Who are considered Ukrainian spies in Belarus?
Citizens of Poland and the Baltic countries were detained in Belarus “for covert operations”, KGB chief Ivan Tertel told state media on Tuesday, March 4. In addition, according to him, “dozens of citizens of Ukraine” were detained for attempted terrorist attacks and espionage activities. Earlier, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Belarus, Igor Kizim, stated that 7 Ukrainians were detained in Belarus in suspected spying. “Relatives and we are trying to reach them somehow. But if the KGB took it, they don’t even let the consul in and appoint their own lawyer, who doesn’t say anything,” said the diplomat.
For more information about the seven detainees, DW contacted the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk, but received no new information. In its response, the diplomatic mission notes that it considers inappropriate further comments “on this sensitive topic”, as “this could harm the citizens of Ukraine who are under investigation”. Therefore, we collected information from open sources about Ukrainians who were previously accused of espionage in Belarus.
Ukrainian, two Belarusians and “document signed by Budanov”
On March 9, 2023, the Gomel Regional Court convicted 55-year-old Ukrainian citizen Pavel Kuprienko in the case of “secret activities in favor of Ukraine”. He was considered behind closed doors for nearly a month. Kuprienko was found guilty of Art. 358-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (“secret activity”) and sentenced to seven years in a penal colony. 41-year-old Belarusian citizen Taras Machinsky received another three years, charged with “treason against the state” (part 1 of article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus) in the same case. Another person involved in the case, Belarusian Dmitry Solovyanchik, 32, convicted of “concealing the traces of a serious crime” (part 1 of article 405 of the Penal Code), by court decision, must pay a fine of 400 basic units (about 5,400 euros).
According to the investigation, voiced on October 20, 2022 in the plot of the State Television News Agency (ATN), Kuprienko, who lived and did business in Belarus for six years, “was recruited by the Ukrainian special services.” The man was said to have been found with “a document signed by the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence Kirill Budanov” and a list of “military intelligence tasks”, which included surveillance of railway junctions, deployment of military personnel in the border area, as well as tasks “to monitor the socio-political situation in Belarus”.
Kupriyenko allegedly recruited citizens of Belarus to pass on information about the movement and amount of military equipment in the Gomel region, as well as the mood of the military. The story also reported that Taras Machinsky was a Ukrainian by birth, who received Belarusian citizenship in 2010, and Solovyanchik was “used in the dark.”
Two Ukrainians were tried in November 2022 in Brest
Ukrainian citizens Mikhail Stolyarchuk and Dmitry Gudik were also found guilty of “undercover activity” (Article 358-1 of the Criminal Code) in the Republic of Belarus. On November 24, 2022, the Regional Court of Brest sentenced them to 6 and 5 years in a penal colony. This criminal case was discussed in the ATN propaganda film dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the KGB “Counterintelligence. Operations of the Belarusian KGB against the special services of the West and Ukraine”.
According to the prosecution, Stolyarchuk and Gudik have been collecting data on military equipment and installations in the Republic of Belarus since 2018 on the instructions of the SBU. It was also reported that the men were detained in early 2022 at the Mokrany checkpoint in the Brest region: they were traveling by Lviv-Brest bus.
Together with them, Igor Dirko was detained, but did not appear in court, but was deported from Belarus.
Belarusian journalist Ivashin convicted of treason
The ATN film also mentions Belarusian investigative journalist Igor Ivashin. Ivashin is a citizen of Belarus of Ukrainian origin with the so-called “Ukrainian Foreigner Status” issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
On September 14, 2022, the Grodno Regional Court sentenced the journalist to 13 years and 1 month in a strict regime colony and a fine of 150 basic units (about 1,555 euros). Ivashin was charged under Art. 365 (“interference in the activities of employees of internal affairs bodies”) and part 1 of art. 356 of the Penal Code (“treason against the state”). The trial took place behind closed doors, due to the fact that the hearings were allegedly “information considered to constitute a state secret”.
The KGB stated that the Ukrainian project InformNapalm, in which Ivashin was the editor of the Belarusian page, was created and operates “in the interests of the main intelligence department of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense”. According to the Belarusian special services, his actions “went far beyond the framework of journalistic work.” Ivashin, for his part, has repeatedly emphasized that he conducted his investigations within the law and used only open sources of information.
The KGB said about the “spy network” in the Ukrainian embassy
The journalist is known in Belarus for his investigations into the construction of a restaurant near the site of mass executions of Stalinists in Kurapaty, into joint exercises by the National Guard and the Belarusian security forces. Shortly before his arrest, he published an investigation into former employees of the Ukrainian special forces “Berkut”, who were recruited into the Belarusian security forces, and their possible participation in the repression of the 2020 protests in Belarus. Belarusian human rights activists recognized Denis Ivashin as a political prisoner.
Also, in connection with the Ivashin case, the KGB of Belarus alleged that a spy network was operating under the guise of the Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus. According to the deputy head of the KGB Investigation Department, Konstantin Bychek, of the more than 20 people in the Ukrainian diplomatic mission, at least half were employees of the Ukrainian special services who conducted secret information and tried to create a network of informants in Belarus. . One of them was called Ivashina.
For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that the staff of the Ukrainian embassy in Minsk officially represented the Ukrainian departments. “Before the war, these people held hundreds of meetings with official representatives of Belarus. These activities can hardly be called “covert”, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko. He suggested that such statements were necessary to the Belarusian side to “justify support for Russia’s armed aggression.” against Ukraine.” Nikolenko also added that all embassy staff are safe.
Source: DW
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