No procedural rationale in Bakanov's interrogations, conspiracy theory about his immunity inappropriate – SBI first dpty director
Roman Dudin, former head of the Main Department of Security Service (SBU) in Kharkiv region, suspected of treason, did not receive any orders and sanctions from head of the SBU at that time Ivan Bakanov, first deputy director of the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) Oleksandr Udovychenko has said.
"Dudin did not pass any secrets to anyone - he just deliberately paralyzed the opeeration of the SBU in Kharkiv region, which was facilitated by the Russian Federation. This is confirmed by the investigation materials," Udovychenko said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, the ex-head of the SBU tried to seize power by sending his subordinates to the office of the head of Kharkiv regional administration, where a conference call was being held.
"Dudin pursued the goal of paralyzing the activities of the regional authorities. For a short period of time, he even managed to turn off the regional control center," said the first deputy director of the Bureau.
Clarifying Bakanov's role in this case, Udovychenko said: "As an investigator, he must speak the language of facts: the investigation has not received any evidence that Mr. Dudin's actions were authorized, that he acted in collusion with someone."
The first deputy director of the SBI added that during the court sessions Dudin talks about Bakanov's alleged influence, that he used to report to the head of the SBU and everything was authorized.
"Dudin's words do not correspond to reality – this has been verified by the materials of the pretrial investigation," Udovychenko said.
Answering the question of whether Bakanov appeared in the case file and was called for questioning, the first deputy director of the SBI explained: "We did not see any procedural reason in the interrogations … Multiple materials refuted the fact that someone from the SBU leadership gave instructions to Dudin. We also confirmed that Dudin made the decision personally."
According to Udovychenko, Dudin is trying to politicize the process, "artificially consolidate responsibility and involve an official of the highest level in his crime."
"Conspiracy theories saying that Bakanov is inviolable, that someone did not allow someone to do something, simply do not correspond to reality. If the investigators had said that there was a need for interrogation, they would have questioned him," the first deputy director of the SBI assured.
He added that for the same reasons Bakanov was not questioned in the case of the ex-head of the Main Department of the SBU in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Oleh Kulinych.
Udovychenko summed up: "If Dudin had done everything on the instructions of Bakanov and the leadership of the SBU, he would have not been in the dock now."