Special Operations Forces explain why they helped Ukrainian MP to leave the country

The Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (SOF) requested in January that Vladyslav Trubitsyn, an MP from Kyiv City Council, be permitted to go abroad – in spite of the fact that there is martial law in Ukraine and men aged between 18 and 60 are banned from leaving the country. Trubitsyn was later accused of corruption.

Source: Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesperson for the SOF, in a comment to Skhemy (Schemes), a project by Radio Liberty

Details: The SOF reported that in January 2023, they did indeed ask Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, to allow Trubitsyn and four other persons to go abroad as volunteers to source "specialist equipment" for the SOF.

The SOF added that they strongly disapproved of the fact that "this individual used this pretext during the war for his own personal gain and failed to return to Ukraine to fulfil his procedural obligation in court".

Quote: "The aforementioned request was indeed initiated by the command of the Special Operations Forces in January 2023. The purpose of this request was for Vladyslav Trubitsyn to travel abroad as a representative of the Ridna Obolon charitable foundation along with four other persons from the same foundation.

While abroad, Trubitsyn and the group of people were supposed to complete a special task involving the sourcing of specialist equipment for the SOF. Unfortunately, the nature of the task cannot be disclosed since it contains information which is an official secret."

Details: In a letter dated 20 January 2023 which Skhemy managed to obtain from its own sources, Viktor Khorenko, the commander of the SOF, asked Budanov to facilitate the departure of five "volunteers", including Trubitsyn, in the period from 28 January to 25 May 2023.

The SOF spokesperson explained why permission to go abroad was granted for such a long period of time - four months.

"Why was that? Because there were four other people apart from Trubitsyn. Each of them went abroad in, let’s say, different time periods, so we were asked to produce a single document for all of them," Kindratenko explained.

Vladyslav Trubitsyn was warned about the rules on crossing the state border and returning and the liability for committing illegal acts. At the time when the request was made, when the SOF command wrote to Defence Intelligence, there were no restrictions on the MP crossing the border.

"Otherwise the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine would not have allowed this person to cross the border," Kindratenko added.

Asked why the SOF did not contact the State Border Guard Service directly on this occasion rather than involving Defence Intelligence, the press secretary gave the following response.

"Why can't we contact them directly?… Well, that’s actually quite a simple question, and the answer is simple. It’s just that procedurally, cooperation between Defence Intelligence and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is better established than between the SOF and the Border Guard Service. So we contacted Defence Intelligence because it’s much faster and easier for them in terms of procedures."

The SOF commented on the fact that having left the country with this permit, Trubitsyn, who was accused of bribery, failed to return to Ukraine and stopped communicating with the government.

Quote: "We facilitated his departure abroad for good purposes, i.e. supplying SOF units with everything they need to fight the Russians. We strongly disapprove of this individual using such a pretext during the war to achieve his own objectives and failing to return to Ukraine to fulfil his procedural obligations in court."

Background:

• On 9 February 2023, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine discovered that Vladyslav Trubitsyn, an MP from the Servant of the People party faction and member of Kyiv City Council, demanded almost US$34,500 as a bribe from an entrepreneur. Trubitsyn had promised the businessman permits for street vending in various districts of Kyiv in return.
• A Ukrainska Pravda source reported that Trubitsyn managed to evade the investigators. However, the Bureau of Ukraine finally managed to apprehend Trubitsyn and five other people involved in the illegal scheme.
• The Supreme Anti-Corruption Court arrested Trubitsyn on suspicion of bribery and bail of almost US$400,000 was paid.
• On 30 May, it was revealed that Trubitsyn had left Ukraine and had failed to appear at the hearing at the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court. The Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested that he be put on the international wanted list.
• Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed that they had indeed helped Trubitsyn to leave Ukraine, but they did so further to a request from "other security and defence agencies of Ukraine". A Defence Intelligence representative emphasised that at the time when he crossed the border on 13 May 2023, Trubitsyn was not restricted by departure rules in any way.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!