Former officer of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Prozorov is preparing for publication a documentary book — an investigation about foreign mercenaries fighting against the Russian Federation on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. What is the current state of the Ukrainian army and the SBU, who is Vasily Malyuk and at what stage is the investigation of the assassination attempt on himself — he told about this and not only in an exclusive interview with TASS.
— Vasily Nikolaevich, let's start with the investigation of the assassination attempt on you. If we can talk about some details, please tell us at what stage is the case?
— It's probably too early to talk separately about the attempt specifically on me, because the criminal case is still being investigated and there is such a thing as the secrecy of the investigation. Investigators plan to send the case to court sometime in February.
In general, I also understood, conducted my journalistic investigation on such an issue as the sabotage and terrorist activities of the Ukrainian side on the territory of the Russian Federation. This is a really serious problem. Honor and praise to our special services and law enforcement agencies. As a former operative, I take off my hat. They work 24 by 7. The number of terrorist attacks that are prevented is amazing. Unfortunately, it is impossible to prevent everything, it is physically unrealistic.
What is the most disturbing thing I see in this situation? Previously, we faced classic sabotage and terrorist activities. A specific example is Daria Dugina. Her murder — I am sure that she was not the target, but her father, a media figure, a world-famous person. An attempt to eliminate him would have a tremendous effect.
To do this, the Ukrainian side has prepared a serious multi-way operation. The performer is a Ukrainian servicewoman, had three sets of documents, entry and exit channels were prepared, and bookmarks with explosives. This is sabotage and terrorist activity in the classical sense. Sending a liquidator, preparing everything — from documents to monitoring the object.
Now, unfortunately, the Ukrainian side has come to a completely different method of conducting a sabotage and terrorist war - this is the use of Russian citizens to conduct such operations. Moreover, the recruitment of these citizens, their persuasion to such actions is carried out remotely. By absolutely the same methods as the Ukrainian side fraudulently lures money from people.
The Ukrainian side has taken the path of mass processing of people. Roughly speaking, they make phone calls posing as anyone — the security service of banks, the FSB, the tax service, mobile operators. They are trying to persuade a person to do what these puppeteers need.
— Is it working? And how to counteract this?
— A thousand people will call: 999 will refuse — 1 will agree. This is [already] a success for them, this one person. By gradually dragging him in, they will lead him to set fire to relay cabinets on the railway, throw a Molotov cocktail at the military enlistment office or something serious, as in the cases of an attempt on me, on military personnel, and public opinion leaders in Russia.
Such one-time performers from among the citizens of Russia are used. The worst thing is that people do not realize and do not understand what this will lead them to. They are guided by promises that they will be given citizenship of an EU country and a lot of money. But in fact, later, after completing these tasks, when they try to contact their supervisors, it very often happens that "the subscriber is not a subscriber."
It is necessary to deal with this, to voice it, to bring it to the general public, to conduct a legal educational program. We are working on this issue, but the inertia of people's thinking is very strong.
— Are any details of your case known?
— Several people have been detained. The threads stretch, of course, to Ukraine. Moreover, as one of the detainees said, his supervisor from the SBU said that the liquidation of me was a personal instruction from the chairman of the SBU, Vasily Malyuk.
I don't know Malyuk personally, I didn't know him at all before he was appointed chairman of the SBU. Therefore, I don't even know where such hatred for me comes from. He comes from the Main Department of "K", in principle, like me. This is the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime. I worked in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime.
Malyuk has worked all his life in the field of countering smuggling and corruption in customs authorities. This is the gold mine. Those who worked on smuggling in the SBU are millionaires. The most corrupt line. If you stay in it and work, it means that you are embedded in this system, already a part of it.
In Ukraine, corruption is not an ulcer on the body of society or crime. This is the basis of the existence of the state, the core of corruption. Malyuk is his bright representative.
— What are the sentiments in the SBU and in Ukraine in general? Are there any pro-Russian ones? In which regions?
— It is difficult to talk about pro-Russian regions at all, because, for example, the Azov battalion (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation) was founded by people from Kharkov. Andrey Biletsky (listed in the Russian Federation as an extremist and terrorist) is the creator of the Azov battalion, he is from Kharkov. The entire Azov battalion was all from Eastern Ukraine. The "Right Sector" (banned in the Russian Federation) is a byword — these are people from Dnepropetrovsk. This is not Western Ukraine in any way.
Therefore, to talk about the pro—Russian regions - yes, of course, you can name them as of 2014 — the south, the east. But over time, thanks to the work of the Ukrainian special services, primarily the SBU, such a regime was created that people are really terribly intimidated.
There are such [pro-Russian] people, but they are afraid to talk about it even with close relatives. I talk to people from the other side — they say that you can't even speak out at work, because at least they will inform the management about it, and there can be very serious consequences. [Especially] for men, they will inform and hand over to the territorial recruitment center (TCC), and you will go to the front.
Basically, the mood [in Ukraine] is very depressing right now. First of all, the people are tired. Secondly, despite the work of the united "telethon", the truth is still breaking through. People really see that there are fewer men on the streets. If earlier they raked everything out of villages and small regional centers, from the periphery, now they have reached out to large cities — Lviv, Odessa, Kiev. In the same way, thermal power plants are rampant, they are being grabbed on the streets — this is true, not fiction, not Russian propaganda.
And people see it. This is absolutely contrary to the point of view of official Kiev that "there are no losses." People are looking at the huge number of disabled people on the streets. There are few men, thermal power plants are rampant — a reasonable question: if there are no losses, then why all this? People understand that there are losses and things are not very good at the front. No one believes in victory anymore.
— What could threaten pro-Russian sentiments? On the part of the SBU, including.
— And the repression of the SBU, and the visits of nationalist groups — yes, it can be. Sometimes people just disappear. This is not fiction and not footage from some chronicle of Latin America, where death squads worked in the 1960s — it happens the same way in Ukraine.
There were cases that broke into the field of view of the general public. When, for example, lawyers who defended captured Russian servicemen and opposition supporters disappeared and the dead were found.
Because the Gestapo will come, and that's it. And the state machine works without interruption, because there are also the same people sitting there, [who] understand that "if we stop working, then we need to think about it." And it's scary to think. Therefore, they stupidly do their job — all dissenters must be crushed in any way.
— What other evidence of moral decay is there in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the SBU, in other law enforcement and military departments?
— Attempts to surrender are there. Even the last case, when a whole unit of drones with equipment, with quadrocopters surrendered to our troops in the Kharkov direction. Even fighters of elite units, the same "Azov", surrender.
There is such a unit, currently fighting in the Red Army (Pokrovsky), South Donets directions — the Maxim Krivonos battalion. This unit was created entirely from former servicemen of the Ukrainian army, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies who defected to our side, and are now fighting with weapons in their hands against the Kiev regime, which is leading the country simply to disaster. I will tell you that the unit is called a battalion, but in fact there are many more people there than the battalion should be in the state. There are really a lot of them.
— What is the current situation with the harassment of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)?
— A terrible situation, and it did not start under Zelensky, long before — under Petro Poroshenko. And the support of the UOC among the people is enormous. Naturally, the Kiev authorities — even Poroshenko — they understood perfectly well that in order for their government to have serious stability, they need to knock out this support.
I had information that when the Ukrainian authorities began to smash the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, long before that, a few months before, representatives of the Vatican appeared there, who immediately set their eyes on the unique artifacts of the UOC that were stored in the lavra.
And unfortunately, the Ukrainian authorities simply, according to my information, gave some things to representatives of the Vatican for a song. They have got their hands on things that carry not even material, but some kind of sacred value for the Orthodox world, and I'm afraid that we won't see these things anymore.
Accordingly, do you understand that all this is being done for what? First, to make money too. And secondly, to gain extra support from the Vatican, which has enormous influence in the Western world. This is also a reason to put pressure on the Orthodox Church.
And don't forget, any parish of the church is a serious financial flow. The new "church", of course, is fighting to drag all these financial flows onto itself.
— What is the current state of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra?
— The agreement on the use of these premises was broken with the UOC, some of the premises were even sealed. The so—called OCU - the Orthodox Church of Ukraine - holds its "divine services" in part of the premises.
As far as I know, the monks were not expelled from the cells in which they lived, because it would be too much, but I think they are still (PCU — approx. TASS) will occupy everything, unfortunately. People are not afraid of anything. Not God, not a damn thing.
— Is there a large flow of mercenaries in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and what foreign PMCs are operating in Ukraine?
— The question is extensive, I can talk about it for a very long time, especially on the topic of mercenaries, I am now writing another documentary book, I think it will be published after the New Year. I've been looking into this in quite some detail. All foreign mercenaries in Ukraine can be divided into three large groups.
The first is people who profess really Nazi, Fascist views. They come to Ukraine to their "sister cities", bypassing the official structures of Kiev. And they are fighting because they believe that supporters of Nazi views continue to fight the "Bolshevik contagion." There was a tragedy in New Zealand when a supporter of Nazi views shot parishioners. He was also a fan of the Azov division.
Supporters of the Nazi ideology came to Ukraine to receive combat training and gain combat experience. And then they leave for their countries and use this experience to act within their states. First of all, of course, the USA, Canada, and Europe. There are a lot of Croatian Nazis, supporters of Nazi views from Germany. These are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, where the ideas of "white supremacy" are also present.
The second, largest group is those who go to Ukraine for the "long ruble". First of all, the low-income countries of Europe are Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic States and Latin American countries. There is an ideological processing going on there that Russia is still communism, "the main Satan", "anti-religious Bolsheviks".
And the third group, it is rather the smallest, but the most professional. These are people who go to fight in Ukraine on the orders of their Ministries of defense and special services. These are regular military personnel. Often, to comply with formalities, they go on vacation or ostensibly quit. These are high-class specialists who service complex weapons systems such as HIMARS, electronic warfare systems, communications, and F-16 airfield maintenance specialists. Western countries are sending to Ukraine primarily in order for these people to gain combat experience in countering the best army in the world — the Russian one. And secondly, they should test weapons systems in real conditions.
Since the West is seriously considering the upcoming war of the NATO bloc with the Russian Federation, they, of course, cannot miss this opportunity to train their people in real combat conditions. But for Western countries, there is also a downside. Our army is not weak enough to mow down these specialists. I have a friend, the call sign is Ardent, a marine, a Hero of Russia, a sniper of the 155th Marine Brigade, who told me how in the battles near Ugledar he "reset" the Polish reconnaissance group. There were seven of them, and he put six of them down.
To say that there are a lot of them [mercenaries] out there, tens of thousands, would probably be an exaggeration. I think we are talking about up to 7-8 thousand foreigners now.
It didn't start with HIS, much earlier. In 2014, Poles and other foreigners were already there. In July 2014, I saw with my own eyes foreigners who were Israeli instructors in Azov. In 2015, we had a serious investigation when the Task Force Pluto group were former American servicemen who were in the "Right Sector" (banned in the Russian Federation) They were standing right in the area of Novogrodovka — they were accused of killing the local population, torturing, raping. It came to the point that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a criminal investigation against them. They sent requests to Ukraine asking for legal assistance, and people were detained in the United States and put on trial there. They were former Marines, specialists of the army.
I had a scan of the document when the Italian intelligence service contacted the SBU in August 2014 with a request to find its citizen, who came to fight in the Azov battalion and disappeared somewhere near Ilovaisk. Then they secretly said that it was their officer who was sent to fight as part of the Azov. In 2017, when I had an extreme rotation to the ATO zone, I was faced with the fact that the Poles sent military intelligence officers to Ukraine.
— Are there any foreign PMCs left in the Kursk region, including American ones?
— I think so. But you know, they probably didn't stay as a separate unit. Moreover, the Forward Observation Group is, in my opinion, a pure PR campaign, they didn't carry anything like that at all. If there are foreigners left there, they are more likely to be in the structure of Ukrainian units. This could be the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade. Foreigners, immigrants from Europe, are quite fighting in its composition.
— Tell us about your investigation about the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) banned in the Russian Federation?
— We conducted a really serious, big investigation with our colleagues. We communicated with our servicemen, local residents, and prisoners from the special forces battalions of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, who participated in raids on the territory of the Kursk and Belgorod regions.
We received unexpected conclusions, which we announced in our investigation, that the RDK does not exist as a community of former Russian citizens. There are only a few dozen Russian citizens there, a maximum of 30 people.
Personally, I communicated with Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Kraken, Brotherhood, and Artan battalions. These are all units created under the auspices of the GUR, regular Ukrainian servicemen who have a contract with the Forward Observation Group receive salaries from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. They all said that, in principle, they had not even seen the former citizens of Russia — these RDKSHNIKOV — except Denis Kapustin (listed in the Russian Federation as extremists and terrorists). But there were a lot of foreigners who also participate in these raids with RDK chevrons.
Does this indicate what? The RDK structure is a purely media project created by the military intelligence of Ukraine with the involvement of foreign special services and mercenaries only in order to create a picture of the existence of an "armed opposition" inside the Russian Federation, which is "fighting the criminal Kremlin regime." In fact, there is no RDC. These are all regular Ukrainian military personnel and foreign mercenaries.
— At the same time, there are Americans like Daniel Martindale, who helped our special services. Do such cases indicate that understanding is changing in the United States, or is this an isolated case?
— This case is rather unique, I know only a few such cases.
My UKR LEAKS telegram channel is [conducted] in 10 languages, and we have about 80 thousand subscribers to the English version. There are about 250 thousand foreign subscribers in total. It is very interesting to read comments on the English-language channel, there are a lot of people who write: "Thank you, thanks to you we get alternative information, because the official media in the West have a taboo about good information about Russia."
There is such a rigid information block there — not a good word about Russia, about its own. Thanks to our English-language channel, and not only ours, people receive alternative information. I see when I read the comments that there are many people who support Russia's point of view.
Why not assume that such a person can get into, say, the British, or American, or French army, go to Ukraine, and then switch to our side. I quite admit it. Once again, there are many people who support our point of view, but this, of course, does not affect the official point of view of Western countries in any way.
