Misplaced Pages

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102-693: In 2014, due to the war in Donbas , a number of teachers and students left Donetsk and subsequently reestablished the university as Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University in Vinnytsia . At the same time, some teachers and most students remained in Donetsk, therefore splitting the university in two. On July 15, 1937, a decree from the Ukrainian SSR established the Stalin State Pedagogical Institute in

204-617: A "a lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation"; a treason case was opened against Medvedchuk the previous year and in February, and authorities said that Medvedchuk that escaped from house arrest. July 17, 2022, Head of the SBU Ivan Bakanov was dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy . While a long-time associate and personal friend of Zelenskyy, Bakanov was accused of allowing treason and collaboration of SBU agents with Russia, and failing to uproot them. Vasyl Malyuk ,

306-502: A clash with pro-Russian demonstrators there. Despite this, a report by the BBC said that whilst it appeared that Ukrainian troops and the mayor of Mariupol did enter the building in the early morning, Ukrainian troops had abandoned it by the afternoon. Local pro-Russian activists blamed Ukrainian nationalists for the attack upon the building but said that the DPR had regained control. A representative of

408-688: A complex that includes: 6 Faculties; 2 regional Training and Retraining Centers; Department of International Education, the UNESCO Department for Ecology in the Technogenous Region; Business Centre; Youth Centre for Legal Studies; the Laboratory for International Scientific and Technical Cooperation; Consulting Centres of the British, German and French Councils; Postgraduate Courses and Doctoral Studies etc. This article incorporates text from "History of

510-669: A few days later. Allegedly in the months following the Revolution of Dignity thousands of Ukrainian spies switched sides and began reporting to Russia during the 2014 Crimean crisis and the pro-Russian unrest in east and south Ukraine . At the end of 2014 235 SBU agents, including the former counterintelligence chief and his cousin, and hundreds of other operatives had been arrested and 25 high treason probes against Yanukovych-era SBU officials had been launched; also all regional directors had been changed, as well as half of their deputies. In July 2015 Nalyvaichenko claimed "There's no longer

612-572: A former USSR constituent republic, Ukraine was perceived by the leadership of Russia as part of its sphere of influence . In a 2002 paper Taras Kuzio stated "While accepting Ukrainian independence, Putin has sought to draw Ukraine into a closer relationship. This approach has been acceptable to eastern Ukrainian oligarchs , who do not harbour anti-Russian feelings". In 2011 Taras Kuzio stated The traditional Soviet policy of dividing eastern against western Ukrainians, then "bourgeois nationalists" and now "crazy Galicians," remains in place. This tactic

714-434: A political dialogue and the heavy-handed approach. We are ready for both." Acting president Oleksandr Turchynov had already signed a decree which called for the Donetsk regional state administration building, occupied by separatists, to be taken "under state protection". He offered amnesty to any separatists who laid down their arms and surrendered. By 11 April Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that he had been against

816-460: A raid on the SBU allegedly ordered by President Viktor Yanukovych . Late February 2014 opposition MP Hennadiy Moskal released papers that showed the SBU had allegedly infiltrated the late 2013 – February 2014 anti-government Euromaidan protest. According to BBC Ukraine analyst Olexiy Solohubenko , many tactics discussed in the paper had indeed been performed. After the overthrow of Yanukovich in

918-621: A referendum on greater autonomy or joining Russia, similar to the one held in Crimea in March. Hundreds of masked men also seized weapons from the SBU building in the city. A large crowd then stormed and occupied the Donetsk RSA building , raising the Russian flag. They demanded the regional council meet by noon the next day and vote for a referendum on joining Russia. Otherwise, they vowed to take control of

1020-624: A regional administration building in Khartsyzk on 13 April, followed by a local administration building in Zhdanivka on 14 April. On 12 April, unmarked pro-Russian militants seized the Donetsk headquarters of the Interior Ministry and two police stations without resistance, while an assault on the general prosecutor's office was repelled. Following negotiations between the militants and those in

1122-463: A roadmap for ending the war in October 2019, but it remained unresolved. During 2021, Ukrainian fatalities rose sharply and Russian forces massed around Ukraine's borders . Russia recognized the DPR and LPR as independent states on 21 February 2022 and deployed troops to those territories. On 24 February, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine , subsuming the war in Donbas into it. Following

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1224-464: A total infiltration of Russian agents. The danger is no longer widespread". The arrested agents were replaced by new recruits from western Ukraine , many of them in their early twenties. To test loyalty, all SBU agents are subjected to recurrent interrogations and lie detector tests. In June 2015, the Kyiv Post reported that a deputy chief of the SBU, Vitaly Malikov, had supported events leading to

1326-417: A whole remained neutral. In 2005, soon after the elections, sacked SBU Chief Smeshko and other intelligence agents stated their own version of the revolution's events. They claimed to have prevented militsiya from violently suppressing the protests, contradicting the orders of President Kuchma and threatening militsiya with armed involvement of SBU's special forces units. This story was first described by

1428-624: Is responsible for all kinds of intelligence as well as for external security. As of 2004, the exact functions of the new service, and respective responsibilities of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine were not regulated yet. On November 7, 2005, the President of Ukraine created the Ukraine State Service of special communications and protection of information, also known as Derzhspetszvyazok (StateSpecCom) in place of one of

1530-491: Is the main internal security agency of the Ukrainian government . Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combating organized crime and terrorism . The Constitution of Ukraine defines the SBU as a military formation, and its staff are considered military personnel with ranks. It is subordinated directly under the authority of the president of Ukraine . The SBU also operates its own special forces unit,

1632-803: The All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee . To support the Soviet government in Ukraine , in Moscow was formed a corps of special assignment with 24,500 soldiers as part of the All-Ukrainian Cheka. In spring 1919, there was created the Council in fight against counterrevolution and consisted of Adolph Joffe , Stanislav Kosior , and Martin Latsis . In its early years the security agency fought against

1734-854: The Alpha Group . The SBU was created after the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991. The agency was viewed negatively by the Ukrainian public for much of its history, as it was widely regarded as corrupt and was best known for arresting and intimidating political dissidents. After the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the SBU went through a restructuring with the transition to the new government, because of its corruption and possible infiltration by intelligence agencies of Russia . The SBU has since been involved in operations against Russia , pro-Russian separatists in Donbas and other Russian sympathizers after

1836-686: The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Security and Defence Council launched an anti-terrorist operation "in the war waged by the Russian Federation against Ukraine". As part of the counter-offensive, Ukrainian troops re-took the airfield in Kramatorsk after a skirmish with members of the Donbas People's Militia. According to Russian media, at least four people died as a result. After

1938-531: The Armed Forces of Ukraine ensued, marking the start of combat in the Donbas. The same day as the capture of Sloviansk, Girkin's men attacked the police station in nearby Kramatorsk , resulting in a shootout. The fighters, claiming to be members of the Donbas People's Militia , later captured the police station. They removed the police station's sign and raised the flag of the Donetsk People's Republic over

2040-890: The Donbas war , was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the Donbas region of Ukraine . The war began in April 2014 , when a commando unit headed by Russian citizen Igor Girkin seized Sloviansk in Donetsk oblast . The Ukrainian military launched an operation against them. The war continued until subsumed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In March 2014, following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity , anti-revolution and pro-Russian protests began in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts , collectively 'the Donbas'. These began as Russia invaded Crimea . Armed Russian-backed separatists seized Ukrainian government buildings and declared

2142-420: The Donetsk and Luhansk republics (DPR and LPR) as independent states, leading to conflict with Ukrainian forces. Russia covertly supported the separatists with troops and weaponry. It only admitted sending "military specialists", but later acknowledged the separatists as Russian combat veterans . In April 2014, Ukraine launched a counter-offensive, called the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" (ATO), later renamed

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2244-469: The Donetsk State University (DonSU) based at the Donetsk branch of Kharkiv State University. Professor Leonid Lytvynenko became the first rector of the university (1965–1968). 1965 saw the launch of post-graduate studies (with an initial enrollment of 16 students), the addition of the faculties of biology and physics, and the construction of the students' campus. Appointed the second rector of

2346-730: The Minsk Protocol , in September 2014. Ceasefire breaches became rife, 29 in all, and heavy fighting resumed in January 2015, during which the separatists captured Donetsk Airport . A new ceasefire, Minsk II , was agreed on 12 February 2015. Immediately after, separatists renewed their offensive on Debaltseve and forced Ukraine's military to withdraw. Skirmishes continued but the front line did not change. Both sides fortified their position by building networks of trenches , bunkers and tunnels , resulting in static trench warfare . Stalemate led to

2448-554: The Revolution of Dignity the new SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko claimed to have found his new office building empty, saying "the agency's former leadership had all fled to Russia or Crimea . There were no operative files, no weapons. Institutionally, the place was totally destroyed". Nalyvaichenko also claimed that at that time the agency was heavily infiltrated by Russian spies. Indeed, Nalyvaichenko predecessor Oleksandr Yakymenko with about 15 former SBU top officials surfaced in Russia

2550-501: The Revolution of Dignity . Immediately following the revolution, unmarked Russian troops occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea . After an illegal referendum , Crimea was annexed by Russia . Following the revolution, counter-revolutionary and pro-Russian protests began in parts of the Donbas. A national survey held in March–April 2014 found that 58% of respondents in the Donbas wanted autonomy within Ukraine, while 31% wanted

2652-529: The Soviet Union in World War II , in 1941 the institute was evacuated first to Kungur and soon thereafter to Molotov , where it was liquidated. It was re-established in 1943, following the liberation of Donetsk, by a decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR . The school's Student Scientific Association, composed of two divisions – historical-philological and physical-mathematical –

2754-735: The Ukrainian People's Republic founded its Security Services. In May 1918 the Department of the State Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian State started to form a new intelligence service. This was a much more effective agency than its predecessor due to the incorporation of former employees of Okhrana (the secret police force of the Russian Empire ). After the fall of

2856-606: The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic 's Branch of the Soviet KGB , keeping the majority of its 1990s personnel. It was created in September 1991 following the August 1991 independence of Ukraine . The last Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic's Branch head Colonel-General Nikolai Golushko stayed on as chairman of the newly formed Security Service of Ukraine for four months before moving to Russia. (Golushko headed

2958-551: The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) expressed concerns about a situation with "freedom of opinion and expression" in Ukraine which facing "mounting challenges". According to the UN reports the SBU is taking advantage of broad interpretation and application of Ukrainian Criminal Code against independent Ukrainian journalists, bloggers, and media activists. According to reports of

3060-532: The annexation of Crimea . According to February 2016 official figures of the Ukrainian parliamentary Committee on National Security, after Russia's annexation 10% of SBU personnel left Crimea. According to the SBU itself (in November 2017) 13% did so. In 2016, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reported that the SBU operates secret detention facilities where civilians are held incommunicado being subjected to improper treatment and torture. In 2017,

3162-547: The communications protection agent in President Leonid Kuchma 's bodyguard team. Mel'nychenko was the central figure of the Cassette Scandal (2000)—one of the main events in Ukraine's post-independence history. SBU became involved in the case when Mel'nychenko accused Leonid Derkach, SBU Chief at the time, of several crimes, e.g., of clandestine relations with Russian mafia leader Semyon Mogilevich . However,

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3264-466: The "Joint Forces Operation" (JFO). By August 2014, Ukraine had re-taken most separatist-held territory and nearly regained control of the Russia–Ukraine border . In response, Russia covertly sent troops, tanks and artillery into the Donbas . The Russian incursion helped pro-Russian forces regain much of the territory they had lost. Ukraine, Russia, the DPR and LPR signed a ceasefire agreement,

3366-627: The "kulak-nationalistic banditry" (peasants who resisted having their land confiscated and being forced into collective farms). On August 19, 1920, the All-Ukrainian Cheka arrested all members of the All-Ukrainian Conference of Mensheviks after accusing them of counterrevolutionary activity. On December 10, 1934, the State Political Directorate of Ukraine was dissolved, becoming part of the NKVD of Ukraine. The SBU originated from

3468-634: The ' Euromaidan ' protests began in response to Yanukovych's decision to abandon a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia. Earlier that year, Ukraine's parliament had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU. Russia had put pressure on Ukraine to reject it. The scope of the protests widened, with calls for Yanukovych's resignation. Protesters opposed what they saw as widespread government corruption and abuse of power ,

3570-622: The American journalist C.J. Chivers of The New York Times and has never been supported with documents or legally. An episode of human rights abuse by SBU happened during the case of serial killer Anatoly Onoprienko . Yuriy Mozola, an initial suspect in the investigation, died in SBU custody in Lviv as a result of torture . Several agents were convicted in the case. The SBU remains a political controversial subject in Ukrainian politics. The former Security Service of Ukraine Head Valeriy Khoroshkovsky

3672-710: The Armed Forces of Ukraine re-took the airfield, the commanding general of the unit that had retaken it, Vasyl Krutov , was surrounded by hostile protesters who demanded to know why the Ukrainian troops had fired upon local residents. Krutov was then dragged back to the airbase along with his unit. They were then blocked by the protesters, who vowed not to let the troops leave the base. Krutov later told reporters that "if they [the separatists] do not lay down their arms, they will be destroyed". Donbas People's Militia insurgents entered Sloviansk on 16 April, along with six armoured personnel carriers they claimed to have obtained from

3774-553: The Donbas War. He said "I'm the one who pulled the trigger of war. If our unit hadn't crossed the border, everything would have fizzled out, like in Kharkiv, like in Odesa". He explained that "nobody there wanted to fight" until his unit seized Sloviansk. After militants took over the city, Sloviansk mayor Nelya Shtepa briefly appeared at an occupied police station, and expressed support for

3876-494: The Republic, Irina Voropoyeva , said, "We, the Donetsk People's Republic, still control the building. There was an attempted provocation but now it's over." On the same day, Ukrainian government officials said that the Armed Forces had intended to retake the city of Sloviansk, but that an increased threat of "Russian invasion" halted these operations. Russian forces had mobilised within 10 kilometres ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 4  mi) of

3978-591: The Russian Federal Counterintelligence Service in 1993 and 1994. ) Since 1992, the agency has been competing in intelligence functions with the intelligence branch of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense . Despite this, a former Military Intelligence Chief and career GRU technological espionage expert, Ihor Smeshko , served as an SBU chief until 2005. According to Taras Kuzio during the 1990s in some regions of Ukraine (Donetsk)

4080-487: The SBU for spying on behalf of Russia, one of them being an SBU employee while the other, Stanislav Yezhov, worked for various cabinet ministers. In late 2018, the SBU carried out raids across the country targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) churches and priests. On July 8, 2019, the SBU announced that they conducted a raid into Donbass to apprehend Vladimir Borysovich Tsemakh, who

4182-517: The SBU keeps under its control special operation Alpha units with bases in every Ukrainian province. According to British political expert Taras Kuzio the organizational structure of SBU remains bloated in size compared to its predecessor, the Soviet Ukrainian KGB, because the total number of active officers is as high as 30,000 personnel. It is six times larger than the British domestic MI5 and external MI6 combined. On January 14, 1918,

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4284-481: The SBU started to conduct extensive counter-espionage against Russian intelligence services. The SBU captured fifth-columnists , Russian sympathizers, collaborators, spies and infiltrators. The SBU, with help of the American NSA and CIA , also broke through the Russian encrypted cellphone services, intercepting phone calls to find valuable targets or other useful intelligence. Several Russian generals died due to

4386-586: The SBU teamed up with local criminals taking part in privatization of state property (so-called prykhvatizatsiya ) ignoring its operational objectives and sky-rocketing level of local violence. A notorious incident took place in December 1995 in Western Ukraine when a local citizen Yuriy Mozola was arrested by SBU agents, interrogated and brutally tortured for three days. He refused to confess in trumped up murder charges and died in SBU custody. Later it turned out that

4488-523: The SBU, was photographed in public wearing a $ 32,000 luxury wristwatch despite the fact that its price amounts to his yearly official income. The instance happened at a joint Ukrainian-American event dedicated to fighting the drug trade. The SBU uncovered seven spies and 16 special service agents in 2009. A large number of arrests and searches occurred in 2011. In February 2014, numerous documents, hard drives, and flash drives, including data on over 22,000 officers and informants, were stolen or destroyed in

4590-651: The UDO was subsumed into the SBU after the scandal, so Mel'nychenko himself has never been an SBU agent. Later, the SBU played a significant role in the investigation of the Georgiy Gongadze murder case, the crime that caused the Cassette Scandal itself. In 2004, General Valeriy Kravchenko, SBU's intelligence representative in Germany, publicly accused his agency of political involvement, including overseas spying on Ukrainian opposition politicians and German TV journalists. He

4692-475: The Ukrainian 25th Airborne Brigade , which had surrendered in the city of Kramatorsk . Reports say members of the brigade were disarmed after the vehicles were blocked from passing by angry locals. In another incident, several hundred residents of the village of Pchyolkino, south of Sloviansk, surrounded another column of 14 Ukrainian armoured vehicles. Following negotiations, the troops were allowed to drive their vehicles away, but only after agreeing to surrender

4794-644: The Ukrainian People's Republic Mykola Chebotarov started intelligence work on his own initiative for the Ukrainian People's Republic government in exile on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR . The All-Ukrainian Cheka was formed on December 3, 1918, in Kursk on the initiative from Yakov Sverdlov and Lenin 's orders. The commission was formed on the decree of the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government of Ukraine and later adopted on May 30, 1919, by

4896-474: The Ukrainian State and the return of power of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in December 1918, the new UNR authorities destroyed virtually all of the state infrastructure of the Ukrainian State. Therefore, the new secret services founded in January 1919 (with two divisions – domestic and foreign) had to start practically from scratch. It never became as well-led, nor as successful, as its forerunner,

4998-404: The Ukrainian border. The officials said that seven troops were killed during the day's operations. President Turchynov issued a statement later in the day, and said that the "Anti-Terrorist Operation" would be resumed, citing the ongoing hostage crisis in Sloviansk as a reason. By 6 May, 14 Ukrainian troops had died and 66 had been injured in the fighting. Insurgents took over the offices of

5100-488: The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the SBU personnel is responsible for multiple cases of human rights abuses including sexual violence and torture. A new fifth directorate of SBU was created in 2015 to act as a saboteur force. It was associated with several assassinations of prominent pro-Russian commanders in Donbas: Alexander Zakharchenko , Mikhail Tolstykh and Arsen Pavlov . On December 21, 2017, two Ukrainian civil servants were arrested by

5202-663: The University" at the Official Web Site of the University , whose republication is expressly allowed if referenced to www.donnu.edu.ua. 48°00′15″N 37°47′51″E  /  48.0041°N 37.7975°E  / 48.0041; 37.7975 War in Donbas (2014%E2%80%932022) [REDACTED] Ukraine (details) Ukrainian Armed Forces Security Service Internal Affairs Ministry [REDACTED] Russia (details) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Pro-Russian separatists (details) DPR Armed Forces Post-Minsk II conflict Attacks on civilians Related The war in Donbas , also known as

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5304-485: The building after a tense standoff with the police. Some members of the local police unit had defected to the Donetsk People's Republic earlier in the day, whilst the remaining officers were forced to retreat, allowing the insurgents to take control of the building. The local chief of police was captured and badly beaten by the insurgents. A Horlivka city council deputy, Volodymyr Rybak , was kidnapped by masked men believed to be pro-Russian militants on 17 April. His body

5406-510: The building, the chief of the office resigned from his post. According to anonymous witnesses, some militants wore uniforms of the Berkut special police force, which had been dissolved by the new government following the February revolution. The militants also took over the municipal administration building unopposed on 16 April. Demonstrators hoisted the DPR flag over the city administration buildings in Krasnoarmiisk and Novoazovsk on 16 April. The local administration building in Siversk

5508-413: The building. They then issued an ultimatum that stated that if the city's mayor and administration did not swear allegiance to the Republic by the following Monday, they would remove them from office. Concurrently, a crowd of demonstrators surrounded the city administration building, captured it, and raised the Donetsk People's Republic flag over it. A representative of the Republic addressed locals outside

5610-426: The candidature of Khoroshkovskiy on the post of the chairman of Security Service of Ukraine. Khoroshkovskiy said the SBU's main duty was to protect the president rather than the interests of Ukraine. On July 26, 2010, it arrested an internet blogger, producing a warrant for his arrest the next day. SBU accused the blogger of threatening the President of Ukraine , citing his comment "May thunder strike Yanukovych!"; he

5712-428: The city administration building and raised the DPR flag over it. The city administration buildings in Yenakiieve and Druzhkivka were also captured. Police repelled an attack by pro-Russian militants upon an office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Krasnyi Lyman on 12 April, but the building was later captured by the separatists after a skirmish. Insurgents affiliated with the Donbas People's Militia occupied

5814-414: The city of Stalino (Donetsk). Its first director was Oleksandr Yevdokymenko, who was arrested in 1938 and sentenced to ten years imprisonment during Joseph Stalin 's Great Purge . Originally the institute consisted of two departments, History and Philology, and had five chairs. Serhiy Ksenofontov became its head in 1940 and added the Physics-Mathematical Faculty in 1941. Due to Nazi Germany 's invasion of

5916-634: The city was still not under Ukrainian government control. On 22 April pro-Russian demonstrators in Kostiantynivka burned down the offices of a newspaper that had been critical of the DPR. On 21 April, demonstrators gathered for a 'people's assembly' outside the SBU building in Luhansk and called for a 'people's government', demanding either federalization or joining Russia. At this assembly, they elected Valery Bolotov as "People's Governor". Two referendums were announced, one to be held on 11 May to determine whether Luhansk region should seek greater autonomy, and another scheduled for 18 May to determine whether

6018-417: The departments of SBU and making it an autonomous agency. The SBU subsumed the Directorate of State Protection of Ukraine ( Ukrainian : Управління державної охорони України ), the personal protection agency for the most senior government officials, which was the former Ninth Directorate of the Ukrainian KGB. The SBU's State Directorate of Personal Protection is known for its former Major Mykola Mel'nychenko ,

6120-463: The first Deputy Head of the SBU, was appointed as acting Head of the SBU. According to Ukrainska Pravda and the UNIAN , the October 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion was carried out by the SBU. On August 7, 2023, Ukrainian Security Service has arrested a woman in relation to an attempt to assassinate President Zelenskyy . The unnamed woman was accused of supplying information for a Russian air strike. On August 12, 2024, SBU alleged that Russia

6222-400: The home of Smeshko's first deputy. However, neither the politician himself nor the investigators have ever directly accused these officers. The Personal Protection department has been officially responsible for Yushchenko's personal security since he became a candidate. During the Orange Revolution , several SBU veterans and cadets publicly supported him as president-elect, while the agency as

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6324-564: The incident as a misunderstanding. Khoroshkovskiy, as the Chairman of the SBU, eliminated the main competition of Ukrainian TV-giant Inter , officially owned by his wife Olena Khoroshkovskiy, in the face of TVi and Channel 5 . In July 2010, Konrad Schuller of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that Khoroshkovskiy had connections with RosUkrEnergo . The most important source of Khoroshkovskiy's came from RosUkrEnergo. The President's spokesperson, Hanna Herman , in an interview with this newspaper, did not dispute that Dmytro Firtash

6426-453: The influence of oligarchs , police brutality , and human rights violations . The protests culminated in February 2014 with clashes in Kyiv between protesters and Berkut special riot police, in which 108 protesters were killed . Yanukovych and the opposition signed an agreement on 21 February, but he secretly fled the city that evening. The following day, parliament voted to remove him from office . This series of events became known as

6528-430: The insurgents, but were forced to retreat after many men were wounded by insurgent fire. Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov said that the insurgents were led by a man with "an extensive beard". Some 30 militants seized the police headquarters in Konstantinovka on 28 April. The Internal Affairs Minister, Arsen Avakov , said on 24 April that Ukrainian troops had captured the city administration in Mariupol, after

6630-415: The intercepted calls. They also published many supposed intercepted phone calls on their website, showing morale issues or admissions of war crimes by Russian troops. On March 5, 2022, SBU agents shot and killed Denis Kireev , a member of Ukraine's negotiating delegation during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine , while he was being arrested. According to the SBU, Kireev was suspected of treason and

6732-437: The invasion, Russia held illegitimate referendums on the Ukrainian territory it occupied, annexing the LPR and DPR as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, despite not controlling all of the area of any of these territories nor defining borders for them. Russia now thus views the LPR and DPR as a Republic of Russia , but the international community still overwhelmingly views them as About 14,000 people were killed in

6834-493: The magazines from their assault rifles. These incidents led President Turchynov to say he would disband the 25th Airborne Brigade , although this was later cancelled. Three members of the Donbas People's Militia were killed, 11 wounded, and 63 were arrested after they attempted and failed to storm a National Guard base in Mariupol . On 20 April, separatists in Yenakiieve left the city administration building there, which they had occupied since 13 April. Despite this, by 27 May

6936-603: The militants. Others gathered outside the building and similarly voiced their support for the militants. They told Ukrainian journalists who were reporting on the situation to "go back to Kyiv ". Shtepa was later detained by the insurgents, and replaced by the self-proclaimed "people's mayor" Vyacheslav Ponomarev . The pro-Russian militants killed a member of Solviansk town council, Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak , as well as four other Ukrainians, including 25-year-old Yuri Dyakovsky and an unnamed 19-year-old man. Girkin took responsibility for these summary executions in 2020, even though in

7038-446: The occupied police station, but was received negatively and booed. Pro-Russian militants attempted to seize the police headquarters in Horlivka on 12 April, but were halted. Ukrainska Pravda reported that police said that the purpose of the attempted seizure was to gain access to a weapons cache. They said that they would use force if needed to defend the building from "criminals and terrorists". By 14 April militants had captured

7140-420: The post on the same day. Khoroshkovsky is also the owner of U.A. Inter Media Group which owns major shares in various Ukrainian TV channels including Inter TV . 238 members of the Verkhovna Rada voted for Khoroshkovsky, however the head of the parliamentary committee for the National Security and Defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko stated that the committee accepted the decision to recommend Verkhovna Rada to deny

7242-417: The preceding years he and other pro-Russian militants had claimed Rybak had been released. The militants gained control of the city's police weapons cache and seized hundreds of firearms, which prompted the Ukrainian government to launch a "counter-terrorism" operation to retake the city. This government counter-offensive began on the morning of 13 April. An entrenched standoff between pro-Russian forces and

7344-626: The protection of state secrets. Other duties include combating crimes that endanger the peace and security of mankind, terrorism, corruption, and organized criminal activities in the sphere of management and economy, as well as other unlawful acts immediately threatening Ukraine's vital interests. The general structure and operational methods of SBU appear to be very similar to that of its predecessor (KGB of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ) with exception of Ukrainian Border Guards and department responsible for security of high-rank state officials. Both of them became independent institutions. However,

7446-404: The real killer was Anatoly Onoprienko . He was arrested the next year. Reports of SBU involvement in arms sales abroad began appearing regularly in the early 2000s. Ukrainian authorities have acknowledged these sales and arrested some alleged participants. In 2004, the SBU's Intelligence Department was reorganized into an independent agency called Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine . It

7548-533: The recent presidential campaign. Khoroshkovskiy having declined to give an interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , Schuller posted a quote from one of his other interviews: All my experience until now indicates that I am a patriot. ... I see through economic intrigues, crime, know methods of money laundering, banks that illegally exchange currency. ... My knowledge is much wider than most of those who work here. When Minister of Finance Fedir Yaroshenko resigned on January 18, 2012, Khoroshkovsky replaced him in

7650-403: The region should join Russia, or declare independence. Turchynov relaunched the stalled counter-offensive against pro-Russian insurgents on 22 April, after two men, one a local politician, were found "tortured to death". The politician, Volodymyr Rybak , was found dead near Sloviansk after having been abducted by pro-Russian insurgents. Turchynov said that "the terrorists who effectively took

7752-568: The region to separate from Ukraine. Pro-Russian protesters occupied the Donetsk Regional State Administration Building from 1 to 6 March 2014, before being removed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Pavel Gubarev , a member of the neo-Nazi group Russian National Unity , was proclaimed "people's governor" of Donetsk Oblast. On 6 April, 1,000–2,000 people gathered at a rally in Donetsk to demand

7854-456: The region. They issued an ultimatum that stated that if Kyiv did not meet their demands by 14:00 on 29 April, they would launch an insurgency in tandem with that of the Donetsk People's Republic . Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( Ukrainian : Служба безпеки України , romanized :  Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy ; abbreviated as SBU or SSU )

7956-492: The regional government with a "people's mandate", and dismiss all elected regional councillors and members of parliament. As these demands were not met, the following day the activists held a meeting in the building and proclaimed the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) as an independent state. Unrest also began in Luhansk on 6 April, when hundreds of protesters attacked and laid siege to the SBU headquarters for six hours, demanding

8058-409: The regional state television network on 27 April. After capturing the broadcasting centre, the militants began to broadcast Russian television channels. The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) was declared on 27 April. Representatives of the Republic demanded that the Ukrainian government provide amnesty for all protesters, enshrine Russian as an official language, and hold a referendum on the status of

8160-481: The release of anti-government militants held there. They eventually stormed the building, releasing prisoners and seizing weapons. In response to the widening unrest, Acting Ukrainian President, Oleksandr Turchynov announced on 7 April that Ukraine would launch an "anti-terrorist operation". On 8 April, he signed a decree to take the Donetsk regional government buildings "under state protection". The Minister of Internal Affairs, Arsen Avakov , said on 9 April that

8262-753: The security services of the Ukrainian State. The security services of the West Ukrainian People's Republic on the other hand were well-organized. The West Ukrainian People's Republic were formed in March 1919 as the Field Gendarmerie of the Ukrainian Galician Army (it also served as military police ). There was no cooperation between the security services of the West Ukrainian People's Republic and Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1924, former (April–July 1919) head of intelligence of

8364-682: The separatist movement in Donetsk from April until August 2014, and were supported by volunteers and materiel from Russia. As the conflict escalated in May 2014, Russia employed a " hybrid approach", deploying a combination of disinformation, irregular fighters, regular Russian troops, and conventional military support to destabilize the Donbas. Between 12 April and 14 April, Russian-allied militants took control of government buildings in several towns and cities in Donetsk oblast, including Sloviansk , Mariupol , Horlivka , Kramatorsk , Yenakiieve , Makiivka , Druzhkivka , and Zhdanivka . On 12 April,

8466-545: The start of the war in Donbas and the wider Russo-Ukrainian War . The Security Service of Ukraine is vested, within its competence defined by law, with the protection of national sovereignty, constitutional order, territorial integrity, economical, scientific, technical, and defense potential of Ukraine, legal interests of the state, and civil rights, from intelligence and subversion activities of foreign special services and from unlawful interference attempted by certain organizations, groups and individuals, as well with ensuring

8568-503: The strategic town of Sloviansk was captured by a fifty-strong unit of heavily-armed pro-Russian militants. They attacked and occupied the town's administration building, police station, and SBU building, and set up roadblocks with the help of local armed activists. The unit were Russian Armed Forces 'volunteers' under the command of Russian GRU colonel Igor Girkin ('Strelkov'). They had been sent from Russian-occupied Crimea and wore no insignia . Girkin said that this action sparked

8670-457: The university was accorded national status by a decree of the President of Ukraine , Leonid Kuchma . During the war in Donbas , the university officially relocated to Vinnytsia . In June 2016, 75 out of 105 staff members voted in favour of naming the university after one of its alumni, the poet Vasyl Stus . Vasyl' Stus Donetsk National University unites educational and research centers forming

8772-425: The university, Professor Yuriy Shevlyakov managed the institution from 1968 to 1970, during which the main 12-storey building was constructed. Professor Hryhoriy Tymoshenko was the third University rector (1970–1975). In 1972, the university's history museum was opened in the main building. Professor Hryhoriy Ponomarenko became the rector in 1975, followed by Professor Volodymyr Shevchenko in 1986. On September 11, 2000,

8874-479: The unrest would be resolved within 48 hours, either through negotiations or the use of force. On 10 April, President Turchynov offered amnesty to the militants, if they laid down their arms, and also offered to hold referendums on autonomy. While the initial protests were largely native expressions of discontent with the new Ukrainian government, Russia took advantage of them to launch a coordinated political and military campaign against Ukraine. Russian citizens led

8976-419: The use of "law enforcement" at the time, but that "there was a limit" to how much the Ukrainian government would tolerate. In response to the spread of separatist control throughout Donetsk Oblast and the separatists' refusal to lay down their arms, Turchynov vowed to launch a military counter-offensive operation, called the "Anti-Terrorist Operation", against insurgents in the region by 15 April. On 13 April,

9078-500: The war being called a " frozen conflict ", but Donbas remained a war zone, with dozens killed monthly. In 2017, on average a Ukrainian soldier died every three days, with an estimated 40,000 separatist and 6,000 Russian troops in the region. By the end of 2017, OSCE observers had counted around 30,000 people in military gear crossing from Russia at the two border checkpoints it was allowed to monitor , and documented military convoys crossing from Russia covertly. All sides agreed to

9180-412: The war: 6,500 Russian and Russian proxy forces, 4,400 Ukrainian forces, and 3,400 civilians on both sides. Most civilian casualties were in the first year. In 2011, Ukrainian Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts had a combined population of 6,1mln. As a result of Russian military aggression in 2014, 2 million had to leave the region as refugees. Despite being recognized as an independent country since 1991 , as

9282-629: The whole Donetsk Oblast hostage have now gone too far". The Internal Affairs Ministry reported that the city of Sviatohirsk , near Sloviansk, was retaken by Ukrainian troops on 23 April. In addition, the Defence Ministry said it had taken control over all points of strategic importance in the area around Kramatorsk . On 24 April, 70 to 100 insurgents armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers attacked an armoury in Artemivsk. The depot housed around 30 tanks . Ukrainian troops attempted to fight off

9384-527: Was claimed to have clear evidence of him working for the enemy. However in August 18, later the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (GUR) disclosed the information that he was their agent and that he "died while performing special tasks" for the GUR. On April 12, 2022, the SBU announced they had arrested Viktor Medvedchuk , an ally of Vladimir Putin , in what Bakanov called

9486-612: Was deliberately employed by the Yanukovych administration is promoting a strategy of regional divide-and-rule through polarization, using May 9–style provocations, to maintain its eastern Ukrainian electorate permanently mobilized. Analysts have stated that as of February 2014, Russia was able to: According to the Institute of Modern Russia, the Kremlin also maintained a tight hold on Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych . In November 2013,

9588-514: Was established in 1951. In 1961, Mykola Khoroshailov took over from Ksenofontov as the head of the institute and its name was changed to Donetsk State Pedagogical Institute . In 1964, the institute was subordinated to Kharkiv State University and became a Donetsk branch of Kharkiv State University named after Maksim Gorky . On May 28, 1965, the Soviet of Ministers of the USSR enacted a decree on organizing

9690-413: Was fired without returning home. After a half-year of hiding in Germany, Kravchenko returned to Ukraine and surrendered in October 2004 (an investigation is underway). Later, the agency commanders became involved in the scandal around the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko —a main candidate in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election . Yushchenko felt unwell soon after supper with SBU Chief Ihor Smeshko, at

9792-565: Was head of the air defense in Snizhne and a 'person of interest' when a Buk missile launcher was used to shoot down MH17 . The SBU mentioned that he's a witness to the incident. On April 14, 2020, the SBU announced the arrest of Lt. General Valeriy Shaytanov  [ uk ] , who was recruited in 2014 by the FSB during a Russian-Ukrainian anti-terrorist working group under the command of Colonel Igor Anatolievich Egorov  [ uk ] . He

9894-771: Was involved in several controversies during his tenure. The rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv Borys Gudziak heavily criticized a visit from the SBU, forcing Khoroshkovskiy to apologize. Later the head of the Kyiv Bureau of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation , Nico Lange , was detained for a short while and released only after several high-ranking officials from the German Chancellery vouched for him. The Security Service described

9996-559: Was known to head the anti-terrorist division who had played a prominent role in negotiating ceasefires and prisoner exchanges with Russia-backed militants in Eastern Ukraine. He had planned the future assassination of Adam Osmayev , a Chechen in the International Peacekeeping Battalion named after Dzhokhar Dudayev which is defending Ukraine against Russia aggression. With the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine ,

10098-406: Was later found in a river in occupied Sloviansk on 22 April. The city administration building was seized on 30 April, solidifying separatist control over Horlivka. Other smaller towns, as well as government buildings, were seized by Russian-backed militants in the Donbas. In Artemivsk on 12 April, separatists failed to capture the local Ministry of Internal Affairs office, but instead captured

10200-625: Was one of the sponsors of the Presidential Party of Regions , with the help of which Khoroshkovskiy was appointed to the position of the State Security chairman. Khoroshkovskiy denied any connections to RosUkrEnergo. However it is a fact that Firtash possesses certain privileges in Inter. Schuller also stated that the SBU acts in direct association with RosUkrEnergo, arresting their main opponents (see RosUkrEnergo ) to recover their invested money in

10302-529: Was released after a short discussion. However, SBU showed a rather passive reaction to the statements of the Russian state official who claimed that Crimea and Sevastopol belong to the Russian Federation . Protest group FEMEN said that after the early 2010 election of President Viktor Yanukovych the SBU attempted to intimidate the FEMEN activists. On May 22, 2012, Volodymyr Rokytskyi, Deputy Head of

10404-527: Was similarly captured on 18 April. Following the takeover, local police announced that they would co-operate with the activists. Arsen Avakov , the Minister of Internal Affairs, said on 9 April that the separatist problem would be resolved within 48 hours through either negotiations or the use of force. According to the Ukrinform state news agency, he said: "There are two opposite ways for resolving this conflict –

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