Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Friend of the Week: Christo Grozev, Bulgarian journalist with investigative project Bellingcat
It appeared this week that Bellingcat, the top-notch international open-source investigative journalism group, had something to say about Ukraine — again.
It had just inflicted apocalyptic humiliation upon the Kremlin and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia with its recent revelation about the poisoning of opposition leader Aleksey Navalny by the FSB secret service.
And now, it looks like the investigators will soon make t]he leadership of Ukraine fidget about the dirty deeds they wanted to hide from the public eye.
Bellingcat is now looking into a story about Russian mercenaries of the notorious Kremlin-tied Wagner Group that unfolded last summer.
On July 29, Belarusian authorities arrested 32 reported Russian militants, many of whom had fought against Ukraine in the Donbas, outside of the country’s capital of Minsk. The mercenaries were reportedly having a brief stop in Minsk before being transferred to another war zone deployment via Istanbul.
Ukraine wanted them to be extradited for trial — but Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko handed them over to Russia two weeks later, despite Kyiv’s official requests.
Later in the month, numerous reports in the media, particularly coming from journalist Yuriy Butusov, claimed that the whole story was actually a black operation that the Ukrainian intelligence service failed.
According to the sources in the reports, Ukrainian secret operatives were following the mercenary group and were supposed to arrest the criminals before they landed in Turkey. But at the last moment, the operation’s final stage was reportedly postponed at the demand of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, a known advocate for peace initiatives with Russia, in a bid to avoid a possible confrontation with the aggressor in the Donbas.
That was fatal for the whole operation — the mercenaries ended up taken by Belarusian law enforcement and then handed over to the Kremlin.
The story looked like a bad spy thriller plot, but caused a stir in Ukraine and raised the question of possible high treason in the president’s closest circle. Zelensky and Yermak fiercely insisted that the whole story was a Russian information campaign against the Ukrainian leadership.
However, as it appears, Bellingcat is not buying that.
In an interview with journalist Alesya Batsman published on Dec. 21, one the group’s top snoops, Christo Grozev, asserted that Bellingcat was working on the case and preparing a documentary.
According to the information he obtained, the Wagner operation indeed existed — Ukraine planned it thoroughly, probably in cooperation with Turkish, Israeli and American intelligence agencies.
Despite that, it was deliberately failed at the very last moment, according to the journalist.
“I believe that happened because of fear,” Grozev said. “They did not want to spur a confrontation with Russia.”
The investigation into the case is expected to be released in February, and it will be followed by a documentary later in the year.
The Kyiv Post anticipates the findings of the famous investigative group on this murky case.
The chances are very high that the worst predictions will prove to be true, revealing that at least part of Ukraine’s presidential administration is not serving the country’s national interests. Moreover, it would mean that President Zelensky deliberately shielded treason in his direct entourage.
The Kyiv Post declares Grozev as Ukraine’s friend of the week for his attention to this shady case that has all chances to become a loud wake-up call for the whole nation.
Foe of the Week: Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister
It’s been almost a year since Iran’s military, in a tragic accident, downed a Ukrainian International Airlines passenger jet close to the Tehran airport, killing all 176 people on board.
Iran has officially admitted its guilt and agreed to pay compensations to the victims’ relatives — but, once again, the negotiations between Kyiv and Tehran are proving far more difficult than they should.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published on Dec. 17, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin called the talks the most difficult thing he had seen in his 15-year diplomatic career.
According to the official, Iranian diplomats are deliberately stalling the negotiations to delay an ultimate decision for as long as possible.
“We’re seeing the whole arsenal of instruments to avoid giving direct answers and to stall for time,” the official told journalists.
“Their immediate goal is to wait until public attention to the tragedy gets weaker. From their perspective, a lesser stir might downplay the degree of responsibility held by the Iranian side and also have an effect on the amount of compensation (for the victims’ relatives).”
He added that Ukraine might even consider filing a case to an international court in case of continuing problems with Iran.
In the interview, the official indeed had a lot to complain about. Earlier, on Dec. 9, according to Yenin, Iran withdrew its offer to pay 200 million euros in compensation, saying that the aircraft’s passengers had insurance issued by “European companies.”
On Dec. 23, Yenin again stressed that Tehran had not yet issued its official technical report on the incident, in violation of international air traffic rules.
So, this week, as the leader of the country’s diplomacy, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gets the status of Ukraine’s foe.
It is understood that Iranian diplomats dealing with Ukraine act by order of their country’s supreme leadership. But in this symbolic move, the Kyiv Post highlights the importance for justice to be served in Tehran’s downing of the Ukrainian plane — those responsible for the lives lost should not be able to escape accountability.
