SBI officers served a notice of suspicion to FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov of organising high treason by the former leadership of the SBU, inciting national hatred and enmity in Ukraine and unlawfully obstructing protests in 2013-2014.
Also, 20 high-ranking officials of the Russian special services were notified of suspicion. Among them are Viktor Zolotov, director of the Federal Service of the Russian Guard, and other FSB generals, the agency said in a press release.
Investigators of the Bureau, with the assistance of the SBU, collected evidence of subversive activities of the Russian special service and personally the head of the FSB against Ukraine. It has been established that Bortnikov developed a criminal plan to suppress Ukrainian protests in 2013-2014 in order to preserve the regime in power in Ukraine at the time.
The ultimate goal was the further annexation of part of the territory of Ukraine under the pretext of an alleged "civil confrontation".
One of the key tasks of the Russian FSB was to prevent Ukraine's European integration and membership in the NATO Collective Security Treaty, as this threatened Russia's aggressive plans.
The refusal of Ukraine's top leadership to pursue European integration was planned in advance by Russia, so measures were taken in advance to prevent protests and scenarios were developed for their violent dispersal.
To this end, in October 2013, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolay Patrushev, visited Ukraine and instructed the NSDC leadership, including Deputy Secretary Volodymyr Sivkovych, to disperse potential protests with maximum brutality and use excessive force to intimidate other activists.
The investigation established that, in order to stop the protests, FSB chief Bortnikov instructed the then Head of the SSU, who also held Russian citizenship, to assist FSB officers in their subversive activities.
In pursuance of this instruction, the First Deputy Head of the SBU, the head of the Anti-Terrorist Centre, put his subordinate special forces on high alert in November-December 2013. The level of the terrorist threat to Maidan was defined as 'potential', which essentially equated the protesters with potential terrorists.
The grounds for such decisions were false reports by the SBU leadership regarding possible terrorist threats from the protesters.
In December 2013, the Commander of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on the instructions of the Deputy Commander of the Russian Internal Troops, began preparations for the violent dispersal and execution of activists, for which purpose, on 12 December 2013, he sent a letter to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine requesting the free transfer of 4 million rounds of ammunition, 100,000 VOG-25 grenade launchers and other military equipment to the Internal Troops.
In addition, on the instructions of the Director of the FSB and at the invitation of the former Head of the SSU, a group of 20 FSB officers arrived in Kyiv on 13 December 2013 to instruct Ukrainian law enforcement officers in countering Euromaidan.
On the instructions of the Russian FSB officers, supported by the leadership of the SSU, Ukrainian law enforcement officers collected video recordings that provoked social conflicts between Maidan participants and its opponents. The materials were published on the Internet on a specially created YouTube channel and reports on the work done were sent to the FSB.
In 2022, the former Head of the SBU and the Head of the Service's SZND defected to the enemy, and the SBU brought them to criminal responsibility for treason under martial law. They also took up senior "positions" in illegally created bodies in the partially occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.