The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has refused to answer Slidstvo.Info’s questions as to who accompanied the agency’s director, Oleksiy Sukhachov, during his workout at a sports ground on 8 October. In response the outlet’s query, the SBI said that the director did not use security services, but that the agency did have a special physical protection unit, Slidstvo.Info reports, citing the agency’s letter.

The response was prepared by Yevhenia Kravtsova, acting chief of the department for receiving citizens and processing appeals and queries at the SBI Operations Support Office. The document contained six pages of arguments justifying the agency’s refusal to share the requested information.

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The SBI stated that Oleksiy Sukhachov did not employ security, but the bureau had “a special physical protection unit, which is allowed to use firearms and physical force.”

Kravtsova explained that disclosing information about the individuals providing physical protection for the SBI director “may put the life and health of individual SBI employees at risk, owing to the high likelihood of criminal offences being committed against them.”

The response also stated that “restricting journalists’ access to information is in the interests of SBI staff, as well as in the state’s interest in preventing disorder or crime.”

At the end of the letter, the bureau’s representative accused Slidstvo.Info of repeatedly reporting false information and asked the outlet to publish all pages of the response in order to “prevent the manipulation of public opinion and the distortion of the facts” set out in it.

The SBI also said the claim that Sukhachov had been working out at the sports ground outside working hours was false. Yet during his encounter with reporters, the agency’s director said, “It’s not business hours yet, I came to do some exercise, and you’ve ruined my whole workout.”

In early October 2026, a group of unknown men dressed in black, one of whom claimed to work for a law enforcement body, interfered with Slidstvo.Info journalists’ attempts to film State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) director Oleksiy Sukhachov and ask him questions about the 143 real estate properties owned by his brother.

On 17 July, multiple Ukrainian news outlets posted the Slidstvo.Info investigation as part of “Initiative 143”, named so after the number of real estate objects discussed in the story. The initiative was a response to Pechersk Court Judge Serhiy Vovk banning the release of the investigation. The Kyiv Court of Appeal overturned the ruling on 23 September.