Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that counterintelligence officers from the country’s Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) could have been involved in the murder of Pavel Sheremet, a journalist killed in 2016.
Sheremet, who was best known for his writings about Belarus, died in Kiev in a car explosion, which the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office says was caused by a bomb. Over the years, the SBU has presented numerous theories about who was behind the attack – including blaming Russia – but now it appears that they might have been the culprits themselves.
“There is a possibility that certain individuals who were connected to counterintelligence during [Petro Poroshenko’s] presidency may be involved [in the killing],” Zelensky said.
At the time, Sheremet was a public critic of Poroshenko, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin and their Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
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In December 2019, three Ukrainians were arrested on suspicion of murdering Sheremet. According to the authorities, the murder was ordered and organized by Andrey Antonenko, a well-known military veteran and musician. Two other defendants, Yana Dugar and Yulia Kuzmenko, were detained as accomplices.
On the day of the arrests, Ilya Kiva, a member of Ukraine’s parliament from the Opposition Platform – For Life party, said that he had unconfirmed information that the three defendants in the case were freelancers for the Security Service.
Born in Soviet Belarus, Sheremet was a naturalized Russian and spent much of his career working on TV. He also wrote for the Ukrainian online publication Ukrayinska Pravda.
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