A separate investigation was opened on September 1 into the disappearance of a servicemember of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.
"Regarding the disappearance of the RVC serviceman, the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine launched a separate pretrial investigation on September 1," he said on Telegram on Thursday.
Kravchenko said investigators are currently working to establish the full picture of what happened: the individuals involved in his disappearance, their motives, his route of travel, and other circumstances.
"After that, the appropriate procedural decisions will be made," Kravchenko said.
As previously reported, deputy commander of the RVC Stepan Kaplunov said the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had detained and interrogated him on suspicion of collaborating with Russia’s FSB.
As Kaplunov recounted in an interview with NV, on August 23, he was attacked by unknown individuals who identified themselves as police officers. He was then taken to a secret location, where he was held in a cell in chains and subjected to psychological pressure. Nine days after his disappearance, Kaplunov was returned to the place of his detention so that his apartment could be searched; no prohibited items were found during the search.
"But when I, SBU officers, and the investigator arrived at the scene, security personnel were already in the apartment. In other words, our unit was securing the premises to ensure that under no circumstances would any incidents occur during the search – for example, to prevent anything from being brought in or planted – so that everything would proceed as transparently as possible," Kaplunov said.
While inside the apartment during the investigative proceedings, Kaplunov watched through the window as a shootout took place on September 2 in Berezniaky residential district of Kyiv between SBU officers and Intelligence Agency’s fighters. After the incident ended, a special unit of the Main Intelligence Agency evacuated him from the scene. Kaplunov is convinced that his abduction was an attempt to discredit the intelligence special unit and its commander, codenamed "Timur," due to a long-standing inter-agency rivalry.
On September 1, the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) received a statement from the attorneys of Stepan Kaplunov, a soldier with the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense, regarding the soldier’s alleged disappearance; investigators are reviewing it to determine how to classify the case.
Earlier, information appeared on social media that Kaplunov had been abducted by unknown individuals in the courtyard of his own home. Subsequently, a video was posted on social media in which the individuals who allegedly abducted the soldier identified themselves as officers of the National Police of Ukraine.
Later, the SBU reported the detention of servicemen from one of the units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces during a special operation that successfully thwarted a terrorist attack by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) against one of the leaders of the Russian opposition political national movement, who had arrived in Ukraine to mark our country’s Independence Day. According to their report, law enforcement officers used firearms to quell armed resistance, resulting in injuries.
In connection with the incident, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the Prosecutor General’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) will conduct an investigation.
"They will get to the bottom of everything: all testimonies and statements from those involved in this incident will be examined, and the entire situation will be reviewed step by step," Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Wednesday.
The president also dismissed Oleh Khramov, head of the SBU Department for the Protection of State Secrets and Licensing.
