Arestovych: Discussion in Ukraine of special operation to detain Wagner PMC fighters violates state secrecy law, is criminal offense
The special operation to detain fighters of the private military company (PMC) Wagner is a state secret, which cannot be discussed and commented on, since it violates the law of Ukraine on state secrets and may have consequences in the form of criminal punishment, Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), has said.
"According to the law of Ukraine on the protection of state secrets, the very fact of conducting or not conducting operations of this kind is a state secret. Any person who says that there was an operation, or who says that there was no operation at all, commits an act that, in itself, violates the law. This is a criminal offense. It is shocking how many people are running around our vast country and speculating about whether or not such an operation took place. I don't comment. I still don't know if this operation took place. All I can say is that the information in the recent version of events does not stand up to any criticism. It fails an elementary check of logic and facts," Arestovych, who is also a non-staff advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on the Ukraina 24 TV channel on Tuesday evening.
Arestovych said sending Wagner PMC fighters abroad via Turkey "to guard towers" was strange, because ordinary guards could be employed to handle such a task.
"There was no need for Wagner PMC fighters to fly through Minsk to Turkey, a NATO country, because they have acted against Turkish interests for a long time and could have been detained there … Volunteer professionals are taught the sense of danger. They do not like risk. They try to minimize it. It would have been strange to fly through a country whose intelligence services can catch you for killing its citizens..." he said.
Arestovych also noted that it is worth paying attention to the testimony of the Belarusian transportation company that picked the PMC Wagner fighters up at the Belarus-Russia border.
"It noted that the men were suspect and were required get off the bus. The bus was held up for 24 hours. After that, the Russian border guards said they contacted their Belarusian colleagues, who said that we would not let them in, because they [Wagner PMC fighters] were in the database of the Myrotvorets website. According to the bus driver, a call was then made giving permission to let them in," he said.
"I have a question, which of the Ukrainian special services has the power to order simultaneously the Russian and Belarusian border guards with one call [to let the representatives of PMC Wagner into Belarus], or the American or Turkish special services. But I strongly doubt that all they can order the border guards of two independent countries [Belarus and Russia] to allow the bus with the Wagner PMC fighters to pass through. Who made the call?"
"These men [Wagner PMC fighters] were given accommodations 5.5 kilometers from a protected zone – Lukashenko's residence, a place where every concierge, every district police officer and janitor, that is, everyone, reports. A 30 kilometer radius [from the presidential residence] is a protected area, and 13 kilometers is a critical protected area, while within a 5 kilometer radius is a critical protected area, a threat to Lukashenko's power... and the planners of the operation bring them into this protected area [to the Belorusochka rest house near Minsk], despite the fact that before that their Belarusian driver had said that they looked suspicious. It's like finding them a temporary shelter on Bankova Street [near the Office of the President of Ukraine]…" Arestovych said.
He added that "providing accommodations to Wagner PMC fighters so close to Lukashenko's residence in Minsk could be perceived as an attempt to put pressure on the Belarusian authorities."
"Some 33 (Wagner PMC) fighters who shot down a plane and are connected with Russian agents ... in a country that is integrated with Russia [in Belarus], where part of the Belarusian opposition works for Russian agents, are housed within 5 kilometers from the guarded residence of Lukashenko. What would the Belarusian special services do? And what would Lukashenko himself do? …Why give them accommodations within 5 kilometers from Lukashenko's residence?" Arestovych said.
"Wagner PMC fighters were scheduled to fly from Minsk, but there was no plane. Their tickets were taken, turned in, and that's separate story. Another question is the plan to use an airplane of a NATO country, Turkey, to land them (in Ukraine). The decision to land is taken by the plane's pilot and no one else. This is his decision, even if it is reported that there are explosives onboard or if he simply did not obey his country's special services," Arestovych said, adding that it would also be difficult to separate 33 Wagner PMC fighters from the other passengers after the plane made an emergency landing.
"It's not so easy, taking them from an airplane where there are civilians. It is difficult to imagine how to do this…" Arestovych said, adding that only careless adventurers would have put the lives of 140 passengers of the plane at risk.