The suspect, an operative with the GUR military intelligence, ended up released on personal recognizance despite facing heavy charges
Dozens of masked men have descended on a Kiev court to support a Ukrainian military intelligence operative charged over a shootout between two of the country’s security agencies that left at least three people injured.
The suspect, identified as Sergey Ivanov, was detained following the shootout between operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) that unfolded in Kiev on Wednesday. At least three HUR operatives were injured in the skirmish.
Ivanov is believed to have been in command of the military intelligence unit involved in the clash and is now accused of attempted murder of a government official. An SBU operative, whose identity has not been officially disclosed, has also been detained and is now accused of exceeding official powers.
Several dozen masked men, some wearing camouflage, gathered outside the Pechersky Court to support Ivanov. The court held the hearing behind closed doors, determining whether the suspect should be taken into pre-trial custody. Ivanov was ultimately released on personal recognizance, the mildest possible pre-trial restriction in Ukraine. He was ordered not to contact witnesses, leave his place of residence, and surrender his passport.
Later in the day, the same court heard the case of the SBU operative involved in the skirmish. The court also convened behind closed doors and handed the operative the same restrictive measure of release on personal recognizance.
The shootout between the HUR and the SBU has sent shockwaves across the Ukrainian political landscape, further reinforcing rumors of a longstanding rivalry between the two security services. The Ukrainian authorities and the agencies themselves have provided highly contradictory accounts of events, at first attempting to portray the incident as a joint operation to thwart some alleged Russian intelligence plot.
The standoff apparently revolved around Stepan Kaplunov, a reported white supremacist and senior officer with the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a paramilitary unit under the HUR patronage. While the SBU claimed Kaplunov participated in a Russian government plot to assassinate a “leader of the Russian opposition movement” on Ukraine’s Independence Day, the militants accused the service of kidnapping him and holding him at a black site for about ten days.
Kaplunov, who was released from SBU custody following the shootout, blamed the “historic competition” between the SBU and HUR, claiming his kidnapping was an attempt by the agency to get to his superiors.
