Slidstvo.Info: SBU may have used TSC to persecute a journalist for his investigation

An SBU officer may have instructed the army staffing center to deliver a summons to a Slidstvo.Info journalist. In this way, the special services wanted to punish the man for exposing the SBU head of cyber security Illya Vitiuk for owning elite real estate, according to an investigation by Slidstvo.Info, which is based on footage from surveillance cameras.

As the team notes, Slidstvo.Info journalist Yevheniy Shulhat was approached by the Solomyansky TSC employees in an Obolon district mall (Kyiv) on April 1. The men tried to hand him a summons.

"I was surprised to see that they walked right up to me, addressed me by name and clearly knew me by face," says Shulhat.

The journalist filmed the conversation with the servicemen on camera, which later allowed to identify them and talk to them. It should be noted that the TSC representatives traveled to a different district and met the journalist at 9:15 PM.

"During the conversation, the servicemen noted that Yevheniy had recently turned 27 and had not come to the TSC to update his data. When the journalist started filming and asking questions about whether the situation had anything to do with his investigation about the SBU head of cyber security, the servicemen left, noting that they were going to record this as a summons refusal," the team noted.

Slidstvo.Info reminded that in the days prior Yevheniy had been working on the investigation about the head of the SBU cyber security department Illya Vitiuk, "SBU general's wealthy women and royal estate", which was released on April 4.

"Since I was working on this report, I immediately suspected that it was the reason why I was approached at the mall," says Shulhat.

The mall surveillance camera footage from Dream Town (where the event took place), which was reviewed by Slidstvo.Info, helped the journalists see the wider picture.

The footage shows the journalists entering the mall at 9:08 PM.

A few minutes later, two TSC employees enter the mall as well, accompanied by a man dressed as a civilian. It is clear from the video that the man is giving instructions to the TSC officers.

While the journalist is in the mall, the man in civilian clothes is walking around the cash registers, and then quickly walks back to the servicemen. He gestures frantically, pointing in different directions, and leaves the mall. In less than a minute, the servicemen approach the journalist.

The video suggests that the man was pointing out Yevheniy Shulhat to the servicemen.

Siledstvo.Info identified the Solomyansky TSC officers. One of them, Oleksandr (surname not disclosed for safety reasons. – Ed.), confirmed that he worked in that TSC, but refused to answer the questions about the mall situation, saying that he could only answer such questions with his command's approval. His colleague Serhiy (surname not disclosed for safety reasons. – Ed.), who was with him on the evening of April 1, responded in the same way.

The military officials refused to name the person pointing them to the man who should be served with a summons.

Slidstvo.Info sent a request with detailed questions about the incident to the UAF General Staff in order to understand on what grounds this man in civilian clothes was giving instructions to military personnel.

The journalists' sources helped identify that man.

"We were told that it could be Oleksiy Volodymyrovych Bilenko, Illya Vitiuk's close confidante," the editors note.

After browsing the databases, the journalists found Oleksiy Volodymyrovych Bilenko, who had previously worked in the SBU's Lviv department. Now he works in the SBU cyber security department, which is the department run by Illya Vitiuk, the subject of Yevheniy Shulhat's investigation.

The editors noted that they had found Oleksiy Bilenko's phone number. Some users previously listed it in their contacts as "Lyosha SB".

Oleksiy Bilenko did not answer the journalists' calls and tried to block them after several texts in messenger apps.

Slidstvo.Info plans to pass their findings to the law enforcement along with a statement about harassment and obstruction of journalistic work.