Andrei Derkach
MINSK, 14 May (BelTA) – American security agencies have used a group of Ukrainians under the leadership of Roman Chervinsky to cover up a sabotage attack at Nord Streams, the Ukrainian politician Andrei Derkach told BelTA’s YouTube project On Point [V Teme] in an interview.
The politician pointed out that the point of view that Ukrainian security agencies are behind explosions of Nord Streams had appeared in the West. “It was covered by the Washington Post and the New York Times. As far as I remember, by the Hill. These mass media described the story of Chervinsky’s group as Robin Hoods who blew up the Nord Streams. We've identified practically the entire group. For instance, Andrei Anatolyevich Burgomistrenko is an interesting character. Then there is Roman Chervinsky himself. Sergei Anatolyevich Kuznetsov is an officer of the 7th Counterintelligence Office of the SBU. Well, things are always in confusion over there. People go from the SBU to GUR. From GUR to the SBU. Then there is Oleg Yuryevich Varava. Ruslan Rudenko. He is a former deputy mayor of Belaya Tserkov. Marina Aleksandrovna Sitalo is an interesting woman. She is 50 years old. One of the best technodivers in Ukraine. She is a specialist in the manufacture of underwater mixtures among other things. She has experience of diving in different parts of the world. Her husband is also engaged in technodiving,” Andrei Derkach said.
According to the politician, Chervinsky’s group served as a cover operation by diving and possibly emplacing fake initialization equipment. They were trained for a long period of time, including in Ukraine’s Zhitomir Oblast. “There is the Sokolovsky quarry over there. It is about 110 meters deep. The training took place there first. Then training took place in Romania near the NATO base Mangalia. They trained at the South Streams. Then they rented a big yacht. Then they were moved to Poland. A smaller yacht called Andromeda was prepared. It was actually mentioned by Western publications,” Andrei Derkach stressed.
Members of Chervinsky’s group were issued Romanian passports. All of it happened under the supervision of Christopher Smith. “He was the second ranking person in the embassy of the United States in Ukraine at that time. Quite a famous CIA man. Today he is the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Asia. He had a very good personal relationship with the former head of the Central Intelligence Office of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Burba. Actually Kirill Budanov is his pupil,” Andrei Derkach stated.
The politician stressed that Christopher Smith had participated and had organized the cover operation for blowing up the Nord Streams. “Well, when a cover story is made, it is done quite well. We shouldn’t belittle the experience of the CIA or the experience of MI6 in preparing cover operations. They have quite a lot of experience in using proxies, in using cover stories to form a certain position in order to dodge responsibility. This is actually what happened,” Andrei Derkach concluded.
