Former Ukrainian General who helped Russia seize Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant may be granted asylum in Russia

ALONA MAZURENKO – TUESDAY, 30 AUGUST 2022, 09:16

Andrii Naumov, the former head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), who helped Russian forces seize the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), may receive an asylum in the Russian Federation.

Source: [Russian outlet] The Insider

Quote: "According to our sources, the former SSU officer lived in Germany for several months after fleeing Ukraine. He was then able to cross the border of the European Union, carrying undeclared valuables, and get to Serbia.

He may now become another participant in the show trial of President Zelenskyy in Russia."

Details: Naumov was detained in Serbia on 7 June 2022.

While driving a car, he was accompanied by Oleksandr Akst, a Ukrainian businessman and a German citizen who was at the forefront of numerous journalistic investigations focused on smuggling in Ukraine.

Their car was stopped at a border checkpoint when the two attempted to cross the border between Serbia and North Macedonia.

Naumov was the head of the Main Directorate of Internal Security of the SSU from summer 2019 until July 2022.

He previously managed the state-owned enterprise Centre for Organisational, Technical and Information Support of Management of the Exclusion Zone, which allowed him to gather information concerning the safety systems of the Chornobyl NPP facilities. This information is considered a state secret.

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has opened criminal proceedings against Naumov for possible treason. In response to journalists’ requests, the SBI stated:

"A pre-trial investigation is being conducted into the allegation of possible high treason committed by a citizen of Ukraine who, while holding the position of head of a state-owned business that ensures the operation of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant exclusion zone, and later a leading position in the SBU, gathered information about the work of the security systems of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant exclusion zone and other confidential information."

Sources in the Ukrainian security services believe that Naumov could have given the Russian special services information that allowed the Russian army to quickly capture the territory of the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl NPP.

Since their detention in Serbia, Naumov and Akst are being held at a pre-trial detention facility in the city of Niš, Serbia.

According to official data, the BMW car in which Naumov tried to cross the border contained 600,000 euros in cash, a large amount of US dollars and precious stones, including diamonds.

Under Serbian law, he faces up to 12 years in prison for smuggling undeclared valuables, but he may succeed in avoiding responsibility.

In Serbia, the issue of Naumov's extradition to Russia is handled by Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia.

It is reported that on 23 August, the head of that Ministry met in Moscow with Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia.

The official report on the meeting doesn’t say anything about Naumov's fate, but according to media sources, this issue was discussed.

The source reported that after sending Naumov to the Russian Federation, Vulin may move to Moscow himself; he expects to be appointed ambassador of Serbia to Russia.

In addition, a source in the security forces reported that soon after the start of the war, while "on the run", Naumov visited Austria, where he met with businessman Dmytro Firtash, one of the organisers of a large-scale "gas gimmick", which caused Ukraine to face energy dependence from Russia. 

Background:

• Naumov left Ukraine a few hours before the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Russian troops on the night of 24 February. Naumov's convoy with money and jewellery left Ukraine just hours before the war started.
• He used several vans loaded with cash and jewellery, including diamonds, to flee the country. The vehicles went to Germany, where he was hiding until his arrest in Serbia.
• He evacuated his family from the country a few weeks earlier. Ukrainian law enforcement officers initiated criminal proceedings against him on suspicion of treason, and at the end of March they also conducted searches of his apartments in an elite residential complex in Kyiv.
• On 1 April, in an evening address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he had stripped Naumov of the rank of General for his "anti-heroism."
• According to Ukrainska Pravda’s sources, Ukrainian military and political leaders did not know in the first weeks of the war where Ivan Bakanov, the head of the State Security Service of Ukraine, was.
• In October 2020, journalists of the Skhemy program [Radio Liberty investigation project] dicovered that the Naumov family bought a 3-room apartment in an elite residential complex in the centre of Kyiv at four times below market price.

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