SBU detains freelance NABU agent suspected of organizing draft evasion

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) detained Oleksiy Honchar — a freelance undercover agent of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) — in central Kyiv on August 12.

The detention was reported by former Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytsky.

According to Bronevytsky, the arrest was carried out by the Department of Military Counterintelligence. Honchar is suspected of obstructing the activities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces — specifically, of organizing the fictitious employment of draft-eligible men at the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) in exchange for money, with the aim of evading mobilization.

Bronevytsky describes Honchar, also known by the aliases Shevchenko, Karpenko, and Torop, as a “professional provocateur” used by anti-corruption bodies to entice people into offering bribes. According to the former prosecutor, Honchar served as the complainant in the cases against State Judicial Administration head Salnikov and former deputy head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration Orlov, and as a witness in the case against former Supreme Court chief Knyazev.

Journalist Volodymyr Boyko claims that Honchar’s real name is Oleksiy Viktorovych Karpenko, born in 1974 in Orenburg. In 2005, he was convicted in Omsk and sentenced to six years in prison for large-scale fraud. After moving to Ukraine, Karpenko became involved in two more criminal proceedings on fraud charges, according to Boyko.

Boyko also claims that, despite being under house arrest, Honchar moved freely around Ukraine, wore military uniform, and “traded positions” at the HUR. The journalist links this freedom of movement to the detainee’s alleged cooperation with NABU. In addition, Boyko references an interview Honchar gave last year in which he spoke about the trading of cases at the Supreme Court, naming surnames, sums, and other details. Like Bronevytsky, Boyko connects Honchar to the case of Judge Knyazev.

No official statement on the detention has been made. As the report notes, a standoff between the SBU and NABU has been ongoing since last year. In political circles, it is believed that Zelensky may be using the SBU to strike back against NABU, which is investigating criminal cases involving people in his inner circle.