Page 63 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2023

bne December 2023 Eastern Europe I 63
incredibly tough spot diplomatically. This just shows how destructive the spiralling conflict between Zelenskiy and Zalyzhny can be."
The investigation reports that Chervinsky did not act alone and
did not plan the operation himself. Instead, he reportedly received orders from more senior Ukrainian officials, who ultimately reported to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine's highest- ranking military officer, who recently caused a storm by saying the war in Ukraine is at a stalemate.
The claim that Chervinsky was taking orders from Zaluzhny is explosive, as
it suggests the attack on the pipelines,
a major piece of European energy infrastructure, was officially sanctioned.
Chervinsky has denied any involvement in the pipeline sabotage, stating that the speculations about his role are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis. The Ukrainian government has not responded to questions about Chervinsky's participation.
Chervinsky's role was well-suited for carrying out covert missions due to his experience in senior positions within Ukraine's military intelligence agency and the Security Service (SBU). He has also been involved in other secretive operations, such as luring Russian mercenaries into Belarus and targeting pro-Russian separatist leaders.
Chervinsky is currently held in a Kyiv jail on charges related to a plot to lure
a Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine. He claims that he was acting on orders and that his arrest is politically motivated due to his criticism of the Ukrainian government.
The revelation of Chervinsky's involvement in the Nord Stream
attack contradicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's public denials of his country's involvement in the operation. It appears that the operation was designed to keep Zelenskiy uninformed, with those involved reporting directly to General Zaluzhny, according to the Washington Post.
Putin pardons Politkovskaya's killer
Ben Aris in Berlin
President Vladimir Putin has granted a pardon to Sergei Khadzhikurbanov who was convicted of the 2006 murder of famous investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, RBC reported on November 15.
Khadzhikurbanov was serving a 20-year sentence for the crime, but was pardoned by Putin after signing up to fight in the Special Military Operation (SVO) in Ukraine.
According to Khadzhikurbanov's lawyer, Alexey Mikhalchik, Khadzhikurbanov initially participated in the SVO as a prisoner and was later pardoned. Khadzhikurbanov's lawyer did not say when he started to fight in Ukraine or when he received the presidential pardon. Khadzhikurbanov is currently fighting in Ukraine on a contract with Russia's Defence Ministry, his lawyer said.
He subsequently re-joined the SVO as a freelance military contractor after entering into a contract with the Defence Ministry. His prior experience in special forces during the 90s likely contributed to being offered a command position. Mikhalchik believes that Khadzhikurbanov was not involved in the murder of Politkovskaya, who was a leading critic of Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov’s regime that runs the region.
The pardon elicited strong reaction from Politkovskaya's children. In a joint statement, Politkovskaya's daughter, Vera, and son, Ilya, said the decision was a "desecration" of their mother's memory. They also lamented that they were not informed about the presidential pardon, expressing disillusionment with the pursuit of justice in their mother's case.
There has been a string of murders of those that have opposed Kadyrov or criticised his regime. Chechens linked to Kadyrov are also thought to be behind the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in 2015, who was gunned down under the walls of the Kremlin.
More recently, another Kadyrov critic, Chechen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot twice in the head in Berlin’s Tiergarten in August 2019 by a Russian assassin on a bicycle with a suppressed Glock 26. Khangoshvili had fled Russia and was seeking refuge in Germany. In December 2021, two Russian diplomats were expelled after a Berlin court determined that the murder was a state-ordered killing.
Observers believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin has little control over Kadyrov, who is a former military leader in his father’s succession movement that was attempting to break away from the Russian Federation. A poacher-turned-gamekeeper, the Kremlin has spent billions of dollars on rebuilding Chechnya following two Chechen wars at the start of the 1990s.
A leaked Kremlin report written by top presidential aide Dmitri Kozak at the end of the 90s caused a storm when it reported more than $1bn of state investment money for the republic had gone missing. But ever nominally loyal, Kadyrov sent his elite fighters – the so-called Kadyrovtsy – to fight in Ukraine and more recently he is believed to be building up a private army on the off-chance there is a social backlash against Putin and a coup.
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