SBI notifies Sivkovych of suspicion of organizing beating of students on Maidan in 2013
Officers of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) reported a new suspicion to former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Volodymyr Sivkovych – for organizing the beating of students on Maidan Nazalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv in November 2013.
"SBI officers reported suspicion of high treason to former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Volodymyr Sivkovych," the department said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
According to the SBI, Sivkovych was recruited by Russia in the late 1990s, when he was a career officer of the KGB of the USSR and the FSB.
"The official carried out the tasks of the top political leadership of the aggressor country to prevent Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. It is documented that in October 2013 he met with the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev as part of consultations of the National Security and Defense Council delegations of the two countries in Odesa. At this event, the traitor received instructions regarding further subversive activities against Ukraine and the suppression of potential protests due to Ukraine's refusal to associate with the EU," the SBI said.
The bureau said that after the start of student protests on Maidan Nazalezhnosti, Sivkovych started to implement the plans of Russia.
"On the night of November 29 and 30, 2013, he personally controlled from the office of the chief of Kyiv police the dispersal and beating of students he organized," the SBI said.
Then, due to the illegal actions of employees of the internal affairs bodies, some 55 participants of the peaceful meeting on the Maidan were inflicted with bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity, more than 300 participants were forced to flee from the center of the capital and hide in the premises of St. Michael's Cathedral. These events led to a socio-political crisis, mass protests against the then-current political leadership of the state.
"In turn, this led to the strengthening of separatism in certain regions of Ukraine and was then used by Russia to carry out subversive activities against our state. After the events on the Maidan, the socio-political crisis significantly complicated the consolidation of various branches of government to counter the Russian hybrid war against Ukraine and the annexation of territories," the SBI said.
Thus, as noted in the statement, by his actions Sivkovych "created exceptional preconditions for Russia to carry out active actions to occupy part of the territory of Ukraine."
The department said the suspect is currently hiding from investigation and trial on the territory of the aggressor state and is one of the leaders of the anti-Ukrainian movement created by the Russian intelligence services.
Earlier, Head of the Maidan Affairs department of the Prosecutor General's Office Oleksiy Donsky said the hybrid Russian aggression began in 2013: there was a plan to beat up the participants of the protest on the Maidan of Independence, so that the Ukrainian authorities would not hesitate between the European and pro-Russian course, but would do what was required Russian leadership.