Published: April 12, 2024 2:54 pm
Author: RT
The former Ukrainian lieutenant colonel had previously shared data with Russia and publicly exposed Kiev’s crimes
A former senior operative with Ukraine’s security service (SBU) has been injured in a car explosion in Moscow, TASS reported on Friday, citing sources. The ex-SBU agent, identified by local media as former Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Prozorov, had been working for Russian intelligence services since at least 2014, and had received death threats from Kiev.
A law enforcement source told the news agency that the incident had occurred in the northern part of the Russian capital when the ex-operative got into his Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and started the engine. Prozorov, who moved to Russia before the start of the Ukraine conflict, was reportedly injured in the explosion, which also damaged nearby vehicles.
TASS reported that investigators were looking into several theories, one of which was that the Toyota had been rigged with an explosive device.
The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed the incident but provided few details other than that the authorities had opened a criminal investigation.
Shot Telegram channel identified the victim as Vasily Prozorov, 48, sharing a video from the scene showing a car with partially blown-out doors and windows.
Prozorov entered the media spotlight in 2019, telling Russian media that he had worked as a senior consultant at the SBU’s anti-terrorist HQ, which at the time was heavily involved in quelling popular rebellion in Donbass. The region broke free from Ukrainian rule in 2014, and in 2022 overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.
He added that he “had been assisting Russian special services to obtain data on Ukrainian defense and law enforcement agencies on a completely voluntary basis” since April 2014, explaining that he was doing so due to “ideological motives.”
“In my deep conviction, power in the country was seized by a bunch of scoundrels in February 2014,” he said at the time, referring to the Western-backed coup in Kiev, adding that the new Ukrainian government had “started a civil war” to maintain its grip on the country.
He also accused Kiev of fostering neo-Nazi ideology in the military, claiming that various nationalist units had committed numerous crimes, including murder and rape. He also alleged that the SBU had been routinely torturing its prisoners in secret facilities.
The SBU has branded Prozorov a “traitor” and “monster,” accusing him of spreading “Russian propaganda” and claiming that he had been removed from his post due to excessive drinking. It also threatened that it was “only a matter of time” before the former officer ended up “just like Judas.”
