Vadym Chernysh, Head of the Board of the CENSS, participated in the latest edition of the analytical platform “Analyze,” where he, along with journalist Mykola Veresny and another expert, discussed, among other things, the activities of Russian influence agents in Ukraine.
In the context of discussing individuals who, while holding high positions in Ukraine, worked for Moscow’s interests, they mentioned Andriy Derkach, who recently became a senator in Russia from the Astrakhan region. Given that Russia doesn’t often reward traitors to Ukraine with high positions, such a role for Derkach indicates just how much harm he has caused to Ukraine during his time in high offices, benefiting Russia in the process.
According to the host, Mykola Veresny, Derkach never really hid his close ties with Russia. This raises the natural question: where was the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine)?
Here’s what Vadym Chernysh said about Derkach:
“Derkach himself is quite an interesting figure. He had experience working in the Security Service, wrote a dissertation—though not in Ukraine—on the activities of security agencies, and had contacts with top Russian officials. Additionally, his father was the head of the SBU, at a time when the SBU could not be described as being entirely independent of Russian influence. These are exactly the kinds of risky elements that should have been taken into account, not only when he was elected and given access to certain documents, but also because he supervised the activities of private security companies, which were essentially intended as private, controlled elements of influence—so-called private armies. Moreover, he had considerable influence over appointments in Energoatom, and we know that Ukraine’s energy sector has always been a sphere of interest for Moscow. All of these risk factors were enough to keep this person under constant scrutiny,” the expert noted.
Regarding the comment that spies of Derkach’s level are difficult, if not impossible, to “catch red-handed,” Vadym Chernysh responded:
“If we take the American analogy, a person acting in the interests of another state, under U.S. laws, should simply be registered as an agent of that foreign state, even if their involvement in intelligence services hasn’t been fully proven. In that case, such a person would face certain restrictions. It’s good that eventually Derkach’s espionage activities were exposed, but it would have been better if this had happened earlier,” the expert concluded.
Photo source: Slovo i Dilo.