WSJ: Security Service of Ukraine has shot dead negotiator Kireev over suspicion of spying for Russia
The Security Service of Ukraine has shot dead financier and member of the first Ukrainian delegation to negotiate with Russia in late February 2022 Denis Kireev over suspicions of “espionage” in favor of Russia, the Wall Street Journal cited an unnamed SBU official as saying.
In March 2022, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP Oleksandr Dubinsky reported that the SBU allegedly killed Kireyev when he was detained. Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy said that Kireev was shot dead in the center of Kyiv. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry confirmed the death of a member of the Ukrainian delegation, identifying him as an employee of the ministry’s main intelligence directorate and saying that he died while carrying out a special assignment.
The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kyrylo Budanov, told the newspaper that the night before the second round of negotiations, Kireyev received a phone call from the office of the head of the country’s counterintelligence Oleksandr Poklad, who wanted to meet with the negotiator.
As the newspaper notes, Kireev was going on a trip to Belarus and went to the train station in Kiev together with his personal guard and military intelligence agents. According to his security representative, Kireev told his bodyguards that he might be arrested on the way and asked them not to interfere.
“The group arrived in the center of Kiev and stopped near St. Sophia Cathedral. Several minivans with SBU agents drove up and ordered the military intelligence agents and Kireev’s bodyguards to disarm. Kireev was taken to the minivan. His guards were lying down on the street as the van drove away,” the newspaper wrote.
About an hour and a half later, military intelligence agents were ordered to the place where they found Kireyev’s body.
An unnamed SBU officer told the newspaper that the service “shot Kireyev because he was allegedly spying for Moscow,” without giving details or evidence. It is noted that Kireyev was buried with military honors.
At the same time, according to the newspaper, on February 23, 2022, Kireyev allegedly passed information to Budanov that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered him to launch a special military operation the next morning. The financier had reportedly canceled a trip to the French Alps five days earlier and stayed in Ukraine.
“‘If Kireev hadn’t been there, Kiev would most likely have been taken,’ Budanov told the newspaper, stating that the financier allegedly ‘passed on information obtained through his contacts in Russia.’