Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Oleg Krivoshapov
[REGNUM] The British Foreign Intelligence Service MI-6 prepared a sabotage and punitive detachment consisting of hundreds of militants of Ukrainian nationalist formations for sending to Africa. On August 16 , a source in military-diplomatic circles told RIA Novosti.
| A single, anonymous source for the story? |
Christopher Steele?
According to him, the order to select as quickly as possible a hundred people with combat experience was formulated in July by representatives of MI-6 and the Special Air Service of Great Britain (Special Air Service - SAS) and transferred simultaneously to two competing Ukrainian special services - the SBU and the Main Directorate intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense.
Trained combatants, according to the news agency, should be used to "oppose the development of cooperation between the countries of Africa and Russia." Specific tasks are "carrying out sabotage at infrastructure facilities in African countries, as well as the elimination of African leaders focused on interaction with Russia."
The Ukrainian detachment, trained by the British services, is planned to be sent to Africa in the second half of August on a chartered civilian ship from the port of Izmail, apparently to one of the ports of Sudan. The city of Omdurman, a suburb of the Sudanese capital Khartoum, is indicated as an intermediate point. The final destination is not named.
IS THE DETACHMENT COMMANDED BY AN EX-CANDIDATE FOR DEPUTY FROM THE ZELENSKY PARTY?
“The command of the detachment of Ukrainian thugs is entrusted to Lieutenant Colonel of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine V. Yu. Praschuk,” a source in military-diplomatic circles said.
| The same source as above or a different single, anonymous source? |
RIA Novosti on its Telegram channel clarifies: GUR Lieutenant Colonel Vitaly Praschuk has experience in “successful liquidations” and, allegedly, has already participated in MI6 operations in Zimbabwe.
It is reported that Praschuk, a native of the Vinnytsia region, participated in the so-called in 2014–2016. "anti-terrorist operation" in the DPR and LPR, was the commander of a sabotage and reconnaissance group. At the same time, since 2015, he entered the service in the 73rd Maritime Special Operations Center named after M.V. ataman Anton Golovaty (Ochakov, Mykolaiv region). Until 2017, he served in the Main Intelligence Directorate and, apparently, during this period, he participated in joint special operations of the Ukrainian and British intelligence services in Zimbabwe.
We add that the Ukrainian media in 2019 reported: in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation, a certain Vitaliy Yuryevich Praschuk, a native of Vinnitsa, a participant in the hostilities in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions (sniper, commander of the DRG), ran for the pro-presidential party "Servant of the People in the 15th majoritarian district, but lost to self-nominated Larisa Bilozir.
The photo of the alleged commander of the sabotage detachment, which RIA Novosti cites, coincides with the photographs of candidate Praschuk published in 2019 on Ukrainian websites. In particular, in publications with material that compromised the candidate, it was stated that he was “ a person involved in a number of criminal proceedings on the fact of car theft, hooliganism, bodily harm to his daughter and ex-wife Angela Praschuk”, which she reported on her page on the social network .
“In his biography, he notes that he is a participant in the ATO, served in 2014-2016 in a sabotage and reconnaissance group and is shell-shocked, which is why he is periodically treated,” the Vinnitsa regional portal VinMedia.com confirmed . ua in the expanded material is also of a “compromising” nature (about some fraudulent transactions with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine).
It also stated that “ the biography of the candidate for deputies has enough “dirty spots” about the raider seizure of enterprises, beatings and litigation with his wife, shooting at a restaurant and threats to almost everyone with whom he had “business”. It was also said that "behind the eyes in Kharkov and Kiev he is called the" Vinnitsa brigade leader "just not because of his love for construction." Similar facts were contained in the publication of the now defunct portal Vinnytsia News .
Be that as it may, at the time of the beginning of the SVO, Praschuk, judging by the data in open sources, was listed as a reserve officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.
UNDER A FALSE FLAG
The British intelligence services could have recruited Ukrainians for the DRG in order to organize some provocations “under a false flag” in order to pass off the crimes of saboteurs as the work of the Russians, a veteran of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), retired colonel Lev Korolkov, suggested in a commentary to Regnum news agency.
Without a doubt, we can talk about sabotage at critical facilities. Not excluded in the performance of the same group as attempts to eliminate objectionable local leaders, and acts of terror against the local population, the interlocutor believes.
Korolkov notes that the functionality of sabotage and reconnaissance groups is usually quite wide. And one of the main tasks of the DRG may well be to compromise Russia in African countries, in which it has recently received fairly reliable positions.
“MI5, MI6 and SAS itself have great potential,” says Korolkov. “They perform special tasks not only within the former British Empire, but practically all over the world. The training is good, of high quality, which, taking into account the latest technologies, dramatically increases the ability of a relatively small group to inflict maximum damage. There is every opportunity for a small group to achieve great results.”
The retired colonel of the Foreign Intelligence Service points to the choice of people as executors who have recently received serious experience in participating in hostilities and, more specifically, experience in sabotage work. The level of training of Ukrainian saboteurs selected by the British special services for such tasks should not be underestimated, if we are talking about those who were fully trained precisely under the “wings” of the SAS, Korolkov emphasizes.
TARGETS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA
The destination, or waypoint, is Sudan in northeast Africa. Logically, if the goal of the work of the Ukrainian DRG would be Niger or another West African state where anti-Western coups have recently taken place (Mali or Burkina Faso), then it would be more logical to organize a “transplant” geographically closer. The option with the transfer of saboteurs from Sudan to West Africa - to Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria or Cameroon is unlikely, Ivan Loshkarev, a researcher at the Center for the Study of Political Elites at the Institute of International Studies at MGIMO , explained to IA Regnum.
The only explanation why British services can send Ukrainian saboteurs to Sudan is seen in their focus on the so-called Horn of Africa. Namely, Eritrea or Ethiopia, the expert believes.
“Most likely, in my opinion, Eritrea,” says the interlocutor of IA Regnum. - The fact is that it is located not far from Sudan, and at one time the Sudanese special services made several attempts on the Eritrean leader Isaias Afevorke . Why is it important? Now the situation with the naval base in Sudan is "sagging", and it is obvious that if there is any alternative, then this is just Eritrea. The most logical explanation."
The option with Ethiopia is not excluded, Loshkarev notes. “It is also quite a friendly country for Russia,” he says. “The possibility of cooperation in the energy sector is also being considered, and university cooperation will develop.” We add that Sudan itself is now experiencing a civil war.
Reserve Colonel Anatoly Matviychuk, in a comment to IA Regnum , suggested that the DRG would be tasked with destroying people who have authority, elders, and religious leaders. Matviychuk stressed that this would be pure terrorism, which Ukrainian radicals trained by MI6 would take up, since British intelligence officers themselves do not want to do this.
WHOSE EARS STICK OUT FROM BEHIND THE BRITISH CROWN
Korolkov, a veteran of the SVR, specifically points out the possible interest of the United States in the British sending a Ukrainian DRG to Africa. The depth of cooperation between Washington and London in the line of special services, since the Second World War, is such that it would be naive to exclude such an interest.
The expert cites as an example the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines literally last year. The veteran of Russian intelligence is convinced that the explosion was the work of the British Special Boat Service (SBS), a special forces detachment of the British Navy, which, along with the SAS, is part of the structure of the special services of this country. And the terrorist attack was ordered by the political leadership of the United States, which did not hide its extreme rejection of this project and whose role was reported, in particular, by the well-known American journalist Seymour Hersh.
“Intelligence matters are always closely related to the political courses of the governments in power at a particular moment, and the interests of Britain and the United States coincide, including in the situation in western Africa,” notes Korolkov. - At the same time, specific steps depend on the division of responsibilities - "you do this, we do it." The Ukrainian GUR fulfills the task of supplying human material for the tasks set by the West.”
However, Russia has sufficient military-political potential to give a worthy response to provocations and sabotage in African countries of interest to it, Korolkov is sure.
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