Year of the first arrests in the Sheremet case

December 12 marks one year since the arrest of the first suspects in the Pavel Sheremet case. The journalist was killed on July 20, 2016: explosives were placed under a car.

There was a trace of the Ukrainian authorities in the case; apparently, that’s why Poroshenko’s investigation was delayed for three years. But the president has changed. And last fall, the security forces announced that they were close to disclosure, although they repeated the old thesis that Russian special services were involved in the crime.

However, on the day the suspects were arrested, it turned out that they had no connection to Russia; all three were ATO volunteers.

The head of the Interior Ministry, Avakov, held a large-scale press conference on the same day. President Zelensky and Attorney General Ryaboshapka came to hear him. The state is the highest, so it appeared that the authorities had really lethal evidence on their hands.

But a year has passed and the verdict is still far away. During this time, a nationalist support group formed around the accused. And all the courts are now held in the format of political actions against Avakov and Zelensky.

Because or not, but recently, the defendant began to relax the measure of restraint. One of them was released from the remand center in the summer, despite the seriousness of the charges. However, the third person involved is still in custody.

What are the prospects for the Sheremet case? “Strana” resolved.

Who was arrested and why

On December 12, 2019, the police detained three people known in “patriotic” circles.

First, volunteer Andrey Antonenko, who is also a musician and wrote the army special forces anthem “Quietly came – quietly left”. His fellow musicians knew him as the “Riffmaster”.

Second, a volunteer pediatric heart surgeon Yulia Kuzmenko.

Third, military medic Yana Dugar, who served near Avdiivka.

According to the initial version of the investigation, Antonenko was not only the author, but also the organizer of the crime (later this article was removed from suspicion). Together with Yulia Kuzmenko, he placed explosives under the journalist’s car.

Previously, we noted, it was already known that a man and a woman had flown to Sheremet; the investigation had long posted a video of an unknown couple planting an explosive device.

Dugar, according to the police, monitored the Sheremet area and studied surveillance cameras on the way to the withdrawal of the criminal group.

The court determined the “demolition” of detention Antonenko and Kuzmenko, and Yana Dugar – house arrest. In August, Yulia Kuzmenko was also released to await trial at her home. That same month, the indictment was read to all three and the case was sent to court.

The prosecution said that all three were executors. The clients and organizers have not been identified, and the purpose of these unknowns was to provoke mass protests (we will return to this later).

As far as is known, the investigation has only circumstantial evidence of the guilt of three volunteers. But they are serious enough.

First of all, the examination (the Ministry of the Interior ordered it not only in Ukraine, but also in Great Britain) confirmed that the gait and the figure of the man and the woman, which are visible during the laying of the bomb, correspond to Antonenko and Kuzmenko.

It can also be seen that the “Riffmaster”, who had treated his leg the day before and talked about it on social media, noticeably limps when he goes “to work”.

Second, Antonenko was identified by the pattern on his jacket (the same was recorded on his page on social networks).

Dugar, according to the investigation, got on the cameras when he saw Sheremet’s home and was photographing video cameras along the demolition routes. Yana herself denies being in the frame. The rest of the defendants also deny the charges.

The position of his defense added doubts about the innocence of the three.

At first, the lawyers said that the suspects could not have planned any crime, as they met only after Sheremet’s murder. However, judging by their own social networks, they have known each other for a long time and were friends of families.

Data was also published that the three, long before the journalist’s death, called again and exchanged messages.

Another blow to Antonenko’s version of innocence was the “alibi” voiced by one of the witnesses, Andrei Ermilov. He claimed that the night of the murder, “Riffmaster” was barbecuing with him at a country house near Vorzel.

But the Interior Ministry released a video of the interrogation, where Yermilov later retracted his words and said he had been “confused.”

The police also stated that on the night of the murder, Yulia Kuzmenko turned off the phone, which was unusual for her usual behavior.

“Puma”, “Bucha” and after SBU

At a press conference Avakov gave on December 12, 2019, information was also heard about other people involved in the case. Which then mysteriously fell off. And no one gave them any suspicions on the Sheremet issue.

We are talking about the spouses Inna and Vladislav Grishchenko, known ATO with the callsigns “Puma” and “Bucha”. Even on the eve of the high-profile arrests, “Strana” said these people were involved in the Sheremet case.

Vladislav and Inna Grishchenko

Our information has been confirmed. Avakov said that Antonenko, Kuzmenko and Dugar came out for “Puma” and “Bucha”.

It turned out like this: The explosives under Sheremet’s car resembled the bomb with which they tried to kill a businessman in the Ivano-Frankivsk region two years ago. The demolitionist in this case is “Bucha”, who is in jail.

Realizing the similarity of the explosives, the police determined the contacts of the Grishchenko couple and found those who blew up Sheremet. At the press conference, the head of the Interior Ministry showed audio recordings in which “Puma” and “Bucha” spoke of the journalist’s murder and expressed their fears about it, that they could be involved in this case.

The minister also said that an acquaintance of Grishchenko’s spouses, Ivan Vakulenko, committed suicide after being summoned for questioning about the journalist’s case.

However, as a result, “Puma” and “Bucha” disappeared from the case. The police did not explain this in any way. However, in January 2020, Inna Grishchenko suddenly left the remand center.

After his release, lawyer Andrei Portnov released audio recordings of the negotiations, from which it is clear that Grishchenko’s spouses have curators at the SBU. They recommend that the “Bucha” prisoner not “inject drugs” and not sign anything about the Sheremet case.

Avakov also spoke about the SBU trail. He claimed that even at the investigation stage, the “office” demanded data on one of the surveillance cameras that Sheremet’s killers had landed on. According to the head of the Interior Ministry, the security service did not return the data from the camera.

I mean, there are already pretty thick clues about the role of the SBU in this whole story. It was this special service that oversaw the right-wing radicals during Poroshenko’s time and even carried out high-profile special operations with his help (remember at least the “Babchenko assassination”).

Yulia Kuzmenko also had contacts through the SBU, which communicated on the Portnov tapes with the wife of a high-ranking intelligence officer, Vasilisa Mazurchuk.

The fact that the SBU counterintelligence had warned about the murder of the trinity of the accused was also mentioned in private conversations by the president of the Interior Ministry, Artem Shevchenko. Furthermore, he is certain that Antonenko, Kuzmenko, and Dugar initially did not know who had been ordered to fly.

Going back to “Puma” and “Bucha”, apparently, they were “twisted” to testify about the role of the SBU in this story. In return, it is possible, promising mitigation of sentences in other cases. This is indirectly indicated by the release of Inna Grishchenko to freedom.

Where are the customers and will they ruin the business?

However, today the talk about the SBU has been just talk. The case of the organizers and the clients was separated into a separate production. And only three perpetrators were sent to court.

The situation is reminiscent of the murder of Oles Buzina, a case in which it is also heard without clients. And it goes on in every possible way.

Sheremet’s case, however, is initially more difficult to screw up – not only Avakov, but also Zelensky “signed” under him. And now, under pressure from the street, simply releasing all the defendants would mean a blow to the image of both politicians.

But at the same time, it is clear that they are in no rush to complete the story, apparently for fear of getting a “riffmaster-maidan”. Such fear has become a generic feature of Zelensky’s power: high-profile cases start, stay far from verdict, for fear of causing street actions by radicals or Poroshenkov activists.

But there is another possible reason why authorities are not in a rush with the verdict and finding clients.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who came with the slogans to review Poroshenko’s policy, has already finally stopped this review. The cases against the former president, which were opened quite actively at the beginning, are now not being investigated at all.

The same can be said of the stories that would reveal the crimes of the system built by Poroshenko: political assassinations, extrajudicial executions, protection of radicals by the authorities and special services. If you investigate the Sheremet chain to the end, then you can go to very serious offices in the SBU and in the former government team.

Considering that the ideology of the “landings” has been reduced, it is clear that no one will move in this direction either. Even if a verdict is rendered and the people currently accused of Sheremet’s murder are “closed” (this, we repeat, is already a picture story for both Avakov and Zelensky), it is unlikely that the crime, with its real motives, organizers and clients, is resolved under this government. will be.