The former director of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Valentyn Nalivaichenko says that the recent killings carried out by the Ukrainian services were quite risky and in some cases put valuable agents and resources at risk for purposes of little value, reports Business. Insider.

“Our security services should not do something just because they can do it,” Nalyvaichenko told The Economist, adding that while some attacks were justified, others were more egregious.

At the same time, he explained that the use of murders as a tool dates back to at least 2015, when, after the illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of the separatist war in Donbas, Ukrainian services came to the conclusion that it was easy to imprison pro-Russian collaborators and separatists. was not enough.

“We reluctantly came to the conclusion that the terrorists must be destroyed,” says Nalyvaichenko, who headed the SBU from 2014 to 2015, after heading the Security Service of Ukraine from 2006 to 2010.

He notes that although Ukrainian prisons have become overcrowded with imprisoned collaborators, few of those who aided the Russian occupiers seemed deterred by the prospect of prison terms.

Ukrainian services began to organize murders during the war in Donbas

But during this period, key commanders of the Donbas separatists were under the sights of the SBU: Mykhailo Tolstilkh, nicknamed “Givy”, who died during a rocket attack; Arsen Pavlov, known as “Motorola”, blown up in an elevator; Oleksandr Zakharchenko, blown up in a restaurant.

Another SBU source, speaking on condition of anonymity, made similar comments to The Economist, saying that now attacks on “mid-level” Russian propagandists or “small fish” in the Russian information space are more aimed at impressing President Volodymyr Zelenskyi than contributing to victory . in the war.

“Clowns, prostitutes and pranksters are always around the Russian government. You kill one of them, and another one appears in its place,” the source said.

The comments came as Ukrainian intelligence agencies appear to have stepped up their attacks on pro-war Russian propagandists hundreds of kilometers behind the front lines.

Even the head of the GUR (GUR) General Kyrylo Budanov spoke about this in May, who then stated that his agents “successfully fired at quite a few people.”

General Budanov said that the GUR will continue to kill Russians “everywhere in the world”

Also that month, when asked about the murder of Daria Dugina in August 2022, Budanov replied that “all I will comment on is that we have killed Russians and we will continue to kill Russians anywhere in the world until complete victories of Ukraine. “

Kyiv denies involvement in Daria Dugina’s murder, saying she was the victim of a power struggle between various factions within Russia.

The circumstances of Daria Dugina’s death are still unclear, but most analysts believe that the assassination attempt was actually aimed at her father, Oleksandr Dugin, a well-known ideologue who supports Russian expansionism.

Another dubious killing was that of Vladlen Tatarsky, one of Russia’s most prominent military bloggers, who died in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg in April of this year.

Russia accuses Ukraine of organizing both murders.

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