The court has commenced hearings in the treason case, revealing that a relative of the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Bakanov, was being prepared for negotiations with Shoigu

The Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv has begun hearing the case against the former head of the Main Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Oleg Kulynych. He is accused of state treason, participation in a criminal organization, and desertion from military service in Kherson.

Up until now, Kulynych was primarily known for the recordings of his conversations with Vladimir Sivkovich. However, during this hearing, other interesting details have emerged, particularly regarding the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Ivan Bakanov.

Kulynych is accused of being part of Vladimir Sivkovich’s group. Even before working for the Security Service of Ukraine, he effectively worked for Russia from June 2019, transmitting information about the Security Service of Ukraine’s operations to Moscow and hindering personnel changes in counterintelligence.

It’s worth noting that it was after Kulynych’s arrest that Zelensky’s childhood friend, Bakanov, lost his position as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine.

However, in the summer, a BBC report suggested that Kulynych’s case might fall apart because it primarily relies on recordings of conversations. Law enforcement allegedly restored these conversations between Sivkovich and Kulynych from deleted files on a flash drive found during a search of Kulynych’s home in Kyiv a month before his arrest on June 20, 2022.

The State Investigation Bureau acknowledges that Sivkovich himself recorded these conversations with Kulynych on his iPhone. Later, these files were passed to the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), but how they ended up in a Kyiv apartment remains unclear.

However, a hard drive with seven identical files to those found in the empty apartment was discovered in Kulynych’s car.

Furthermore, Kulynych quoted a fragment from an FSB report from the same flash drive in court.

The report stated, “Contact has been established with S (advisor to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Bakanov, financial partner of Zelensky – Alexander Valerievich Belyaev, who, on the president’s orders, performed various tasks, and was an active participant in Zelensky’s election campaign). On June 2, 2019, at the president’s dacha, a meeting took place with S at the president’s initiative, where Zelensky reported that he had met with several influential figures in Ukrainian politics. The president believes that the need for such a channel has long been apparent. However, he does not advise anyone to meet and trust, and he suggests that S should lead this process. As a first step, S is instructed to take control of the head of the ‘Servant of the People’ party, Razumkov, the party organization, and also check Belyaev’s loyalty in terms of appointing candidates to government positions in Ukraine. This includes the chief of the border troops of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Zelensky also instructed Belyaev to provide all necessary assistance and involve the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Bakanov, in carrying out the assigned tasks. The president of Ukraine did not hide his second goal – he would like to use Belyaev’s experience as a major businessman, offering him full support to become an oligarch. Zelensky assured Belyaev that he was ready to make all necessary appointments to key positions to facilitate communication with the leadership of the Russian Federation. As the first task, the president instructed Belyaev to search for ways to release Ukrainian sailors from captivity. In light of the above, I consider it advisable to arrange a meeting between Belyaev and a representative of the senior Russian leadership, Shoigu, to discuss the possibility of Russia’s influence on the leadership of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics with the goal of ending hostilities, troop withdrawal, establishing closed-door negotiations, and promoting our people to key positions, such as the Security Service of Ukraine, National Guard, border troops, as well as the position of the representative for the settlement of relations with unrecognized republics.” – Kulynych declared in court.

It’s important to clarify that this Alexander Belyaev is not just an advisor to Bakanov in recent years but also a long-time business partner and relative. In 2020, businessman Igor Tynnyi claimed that 15 criminal cases against his companies were related to personal vendettas from the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Bakanov, and his business partner, who also happens to be Belyaev.

Bakanov had a chance to face consequences over these allegations, but several visits from Vladimir Zelensky to the then-head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Khoshkovsky, and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Lutsenko, saved the situation.

Upon assuming power, Bakanov called this story a raid, and Tynnyi was immediately targeted with legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, Belyaev became an official advisor to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Bakanov. For unknown reasons, he was also granted state protection and included in so-called stop-lists in registers.

This means that anyone interested in Belyaev fell under the surveillance of the Security Service of Ukraine.

By 2020, it was known that Belyaev had traveled to Moscow through Minsk at least 13 times between 2015 and 2020 during the conflict with Russia. He had also visited occupied Crimea at least once to check on his business.

Now, from Kulynych’s statement, it follows that Belyaev was negotiating with Moscow, and a meeting with Shoigu was being prepared.

According to the BBC, investigators never summoned Bakanov, even though his testimony could shed light on how Kulynych worked, what information he passed to the leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine, and whether he indeed left Kherson for Kyiv on February 24, 2022, without orders. Bakanov refused to comment on this matter when asked by the BBC.

Considering this, it is quite likely that Kulynych will be the sole guilty party, rather than Bakanov and his relative Belyaev. Consequently, Kulynych may have a motive to bring to light the involvement of other individuals related to the flash drive, including Zelensky’s friend Ivan Bakanov.