Ukrainian authorities were involved in the kidnapping of fugitive Ukrainian ex-judge Mykola Chaus in Moldova in April, Moldovan Prosecutor General Alexandru Stoianoglo said on July 23, Moldova’s Unimedia news site reported.
“I can tell you that state institutions were involved,” he said. “We have identified people from the special forces of Ukraine who also participated (in Chaus’ kidnapping). Basically, we completed the investigation here in Moldova.”
Chaus, who once worked at Kyiv’s Dnipro District Court, was caught receiving a $150,000 bribe in 2016, after which he fled to Moldova. According to Moldovan authorities, he was kidnapped on April 3, 2021 and transported back to Ukraine.
Chaus re-emerged online on May 17, denying reports that he had been kidnapped.
In a video published on Telegram, Chaus said he was alive and well. His wife and lawyer believe the statement was made under duress.
Chaus has not appeared anywhere in Ukraine offline since then. His whereabouts are unknown.
Ukraine’s military intelligence previously denied being implicated in Chaus’ kidnapping. The military intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine and the President’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Kidnapping suspects
The alleged kidnappers of Chaus are linked to Ukraine’s military intelligence, according to an April 8 report by Ukraine’s Slidstvo.Info investigative project and Moldova’s RISE Moldova investigative site.
RISE Moldova has obtained the passport data of 10 people being investigated by Moldovan authorities in the kidnapping case.
One of them, Yury Kovalenko, studied at a military academy in Odesa, according to the report. In 2015 he was registered to a military unit based at the same address as Kyiv’s Military and Diplomatic Academy, which trains military intelligence officers.
In 2018 Kovalenko lived at the same address as the Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate on Kyiv’s Rybalsky Island.
Kovalenko confirmed to Slidstvo.Info that he had been in Moldova from March 24 until April 3 but declined to comment on any other issues.
Another suspect, Eduard Stavytsky, has the same appearance as Ukrainian citizen Andriy Kutsenko, Slidstvo.Info reported. In the 2000s, he was registered at the same address as Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
In 2009, Kutsenko also served in the military unit based on Rybalsky Island. Kutsenko denied working for military intelligence and declined to comment further.Slidtsvo.info also published a screenshot of video footage that shows people resembling Kutsenko and Kovalenko crossing the Moldovan-Ukrainian border near the town of Otaci in northern Moldova.
Another suspect, Oleksandr Kostenyuk, worked as a police official in Lviv until 2018. He was fired after his subordinates were arrested for robbery. He currently owns a private detective agency. Kostenyuk denied having anything to do with the kidnapping of Chaus.
Mykhailo Buleha, who is also a suspect, is a former employee of Ukraine’s National Guard and currently works at a martial arts federation.
He confirmed having visited Moldova for a couple of days, saying he vacationed there to taste the local wine.
Meanwhile, Moldova’s NewsMaker site also reported in April that Moldovan authorities had applied for lifting immunity from a Ukrainian diplomat allegedly implicated in the kidnapping.
Escape in 2016
RISE Moldova and Slidtsvo.info cited a leaked 2020 document from Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court that referred to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine’s investigation into Chaus’ escape from Ukraine in 2016.
According to the document, people from ex-President Petro Poroshenko’s orbit organized the escape. Poroshenko did not respond to requests for comment.
Chaus’ flight from Ukraine was organized by Yury Fyodorov, one of Poroshenko’s guards, Dorin Damir, an associate of Moldovan oligarch Plahotniuc, and Vyacheslav Turcu, a Moldovan-born resident of Ukraine, according to the document.
The anti-corruption court document also mentions that Andriy Smyrnov, who is currently a deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky, was one of the people who allegedly helped Chaus flee. According to the document, Smyrnov drove Chaus to his hiding place in the Alpine Residential Complex, an expensive apartment complex in Kyiv.
Smyrnov denied the accusations.
