SBU collected info, secured arrest orders for Wagner agents in July

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed in court
that it collected information on Russian Wagner mercenaries in the weeks
leading up to the detention of a team in Belarus in late July, the
pravda.com.ua news site reported on Sept. 23, citing a published ruling by the
Kyiv Appellate Court, in addition to the documents it obtained. A Ukrainian
court arrested several Wagner agents in absentia at the end of July based on
the evidence submitted by the SBU, the report said, adding that the text of the
rulings have not been made public.

Among those ordered arrested was Russian citizen Denis
Kharitonov, who is alleged to have fought for Russian-backed forces in Donbas.
He was placed under international search on July 29 and issued a notice of
suspicion in the criminal charge, which was not specified. Nor was it confirmed
whether he was among the 33 agents detained in Belarus on the night of July
28-29.

Recall on Aug. 19, the SBU issued a statement denying involvement
in any alleged special operation to arrest Wagner mercenaries in response to
news reports that officials in the President’s Office deliberately undermined
it. The alleged special operation was supposed to have occurred in Minsk on
July 25.

Zenon Zawada: The fact
that the SBU collected information on Wagner mercenaries, particularly those
who were fighting in Donbas, does not directly prove that it planned the
alleged special operation to arrest the mercenaries who were in Belarus ahead
of its presidential elections. Yet the timing of the court-ordered arrest and
notices of suspicion – in the weeks and days surrounding the detention of
Wagner agents in Belarus – provide indirect evidence that a SBU special
operation was in the works.

This lends credence to accusations by anonymous security
and defense officials that Russian agents are active in the President’s Office
of Ukraine and leaked the planned special operation to Russia, which in turn
prearranged the July 28-29 detention of the Wagner mercenaries with President
Lukashenko. This would also indicate that there is a rift in Ukraine’s SBU
between those who are loyal to President Zelensky, and those who believe he is
undermining Ukraine’s national interests.