The ex-chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces told why Poroshenko, Lutsenko and Turchynov took revenge on him
Former Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel General Volodymyr Zamana, who was detained on February 25, 2019, on charges of "high treason" and recently released from an SBU detention center, has named the high-ranking Ukrainian officials he believes are behind his persecution, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
Zamana stated this in an interview with Gordon.
The former chief of the General Staff claims that before the scandalous arrest, he was demonstratively monitored on behalf of the then top leadership of Ukraine.
“I guessed that they would take me 10 days before the actual arrest. I noticed that I was under surveillance around the clock, I even wrote down the license plates of the cars that were constantly following me. I didn’t see the point in contacting the police; I understood that everything was leading to an arrest. Long before this, there were already strange public statements addressed to me by Lutsenko, Matios, Ivan Vinnik (People’s Deputy from the BPP - Ed),” says Zamana.
According to him, since January 2019, both surveillance and public statements against him have intensified.
“On February 25, the day of the arrest, at six in the morning, four minibuses with a dozen Alpha special forces with machine guns, a military prosecutor, representatives of the SBU, and someone else arrived in my village,” he says.
The military man described what his detention looked like.
“No, neither a “mask show”, nor a face to the floor. Everything was funnier. To be honest, I generally slept. I build a house in the village, spend the night in a small shed, and don’t lock the door. The prosecutor's office and special forces calmly drove up to my yard, parked the cars, went into the shed and woke me up. They pushed me, I opened my eyes, saw around me people in camouflage and with machine guns, I immediately understood what was happening, smiled, and asked: “Can I at least get dressed?” He pulled on his pants and T-shirt and went into the next room.
They brought two witnesses and a search began: they turned over cabinets and shelves with things, confiscated my mobile phone, turned over everything in the garage, and proceeded to my car. To be honest, this was the first time in my life I encountered searches. Quite unpleasant. Later I learned that the search took place without court approval, the lawyers explained that this was illegal,” recalls Zamana.
“I was shocked by the wording of the accusation: “high treason”, “criminal conspiracy with Yanukovych”, “working in the interests of Russia”, “collapse of the army”... I was offended by this nonsense and lies!
In the suspicion it was written that Yanukovych set me the task of destroying the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it was for this purpose that he appointed me chief of the General Staff, and for the fact that I performed my duties efficiently, on August 24 he awarded me the military rank of colonel general. The writings of the military prosecutor’s office evoked nothing but disgust and contempt in me,” recalls Vladimir Zamana.
Among the reasons for his detention in February 2019, almost five years after his dismissal from the post of Chief of the General Staff, Zamana named the height of the presidential campaign, the fifth anniversary of the loss of Crimea and personal revenge on the part of the then authorities.
“Firstly, it was the height of the presidential election campaign, the authorities needed a high-profile case to raise their ratings. Secondly, the fifth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, it was necessary to blame someone for the surrender of the peninsula and divert suspicion from oneself. Thirdly, personal revenge for the interviews that I gave to your publication and in which I called a spade a spade. Plus, my testimony in the Obolon court in the Yanukovych case played a role.
The authorities needed a scapegoat, and who to take if all the high-ranking security officials who held positions before 2014 fled from Ukraine? I'm the only one left. The entire top leadership of the National Security and Defense Council fled, Defense Minister Lebedev fled, SBU head Yakimenko fled, Prosecutor General Pshonka fled…” he says.
The general considers Petro Poroshenko, Alexander Turchynov, Yuriy Lutsenko and Anatoly Matios to be the direct masterminds of his persecution.
“According to my information, these are Poroshenko, Turchynov, Lutsenko and Matios.
For the presidential election campaign, Poroshenko needed a high-profile arrest of one of his “frontrunners.” According to my information, they planned to detain Aparshin together with me, everything was ready for this (Ivan Aparshin, now Zelensky’s adviser on security and defense issues. - Ed.). But Aparshin was already working in the headquarters of presidential candidate Anatoly Gritsenko; the authorities were afraid of accusations of political persecution of competitors in the midst of elections.
Moreover, if you read the materials of the so-called criminal proceedings against me, especially the examination, you will understand: the case was generally prepared for another person, apparently against Gritsenko. But they didn’t take the risk, because in the eyes of the West it would look like an outright purge of a competitor in the presidential race.
Turchinov, I think, was motivated by personal resentment for the fact that since 2014, both in an interview with you and in testimony in the Yanukovych case, I have argued and affirmed: the Ukrainian army was ready to defend Crimea, but the Ukrainian government was not, they shared portfolios from morning to night , although the peninsula has already been overrun by the Russian military,” says Zamana.
As for Yuriy Lutsenko and Anatoly Matios, their actions, according to the general, were driven by the desire to curry favor with their superiors.
“When the order came, they took it in stride, tore their shirts, curry favor with their superiors in order to retain their positions,” says the ex-chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
English version :: Read in English The former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained why Poroshenko, Lutsenko, and Turchynov took revenge on him.