DIU officer, who was first to arrive at Kaplunov’s flat, was informed of charges against him and detained, - lawyer
Taras Borovskyi, the lawyer for Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander for combat operations of the Russian Volunteer Corps, has provided details of the shooting incident between the Main Intelligence Directorate (DIU) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
This was reported by Censor.NET.
Details
"Don’t get it wrong when you refer to this as a ‘shootout’," he noted.
In a comment to Censor.NET, Borovskyi said that on 1 September at around 11.30 pm, officers from the Counter-Intelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine arrived at the flat where Kaplunov was staying to carry out a search.
"They broke down the door. There were DIU servicemen in the flat who raised the alarm amongst their colleagues. The first DIU officer, who arrived in response to the alarm wearing shorts and a T-shirt, started running towards the entrance. SSU officers opened fire on him with automatic weapons from the entrance and from a car parked nearby," said the defence lawyer.
Once the shooting started, he began to flee, but was caught up with and detained.
Later, Borovskyi says, he was informed that he was suspected of having allegedly opened fire on SSU special forces with a pistol.
"After him, a car arrived in the courtyard with two more representatives of the DIU. They were immediately threatened with an automatic rifle through the window, dragged out, handcuffed and laid on the tarmac, where they remained until around 3.30 am, until the investigator arrived. The investigator asked for the handcuffs to be removed from all three and for them to be released. Investigative procedures were carried out with them. They were issued with summonses for future questioning," he says.
At the same time, according to the lawyer, in the early hours of the morning, special forces from the SSU’s Directorate for Counter-Terrorism approached these three individuals and began leading them away to a car. It was precisely this that triggered the scuffle and the shooting.
Suspicions
At present, the first young man has been notified that he is suspected under Article 348 (Attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer, a member of a public organisation for the protection of public order and the state border, or a member of the armed forces); he is currently being held at the SSU.
The second and third individuals were released from the SSU yesterday evening.
Shooting between the SBU and the Main Intelligence Directorate in Kyiv
- Stepan Kaplunov, deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, was abducted a few days ago near his own home. The Russian Volunteer Corps stated that they still do not know where he is.
- They added that they are closely monitoring the situation.
- Meanwhile, the founder and commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, Denis Kapustin, told Suspilne that he did not approve of Fortuna’s decision to make the information public.
- On 2 September
,
news emerged of a shooting in Kyiv.The media reported that this involved a conflict between the Main Intelligence Directorate (DIU) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), and that it was somehow linked to Kaplunov’s disappearance.
- The SSU stated that, together with the DIU, they had foiled a terrorist attack that the Russian FSB was planning against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political national movement, who had arrived in Ukraine.
- The Security Service stated that SSU operatives had come under armed attack whilst conducting investigative operations in the case concerning the FSB terrorist attack.
- Subsequently, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the exchange of fire between separate units of the SSU and the DIU, which took place on 2 September in Kyiv.
- Kaplunov said that he had been abducted and interrogated on suspicion of communicating with the Russian FSB.
- According to the SSU, Kaplunov allegedly had contact with Russian intelligence services and was supposed to organise an assassination attempt against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition movement, who was due to arrive in Ukraine at that time.
