Vinnytsia City Court considers the case about state treason of pro-Russian blogger Anatolii Sharii and former Head of the Department of the National Police of Ukraine in Vinnytsia region Anton Shevtsov. The case is about cooperation between Lieutenant Colonel of the National Police Shevtsov and Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and their media project, involving Ukrainian military captives. Ukrainian citizen Anatolii Sharii, scandalous pro-Russian blogger with large audience, has supported the project.
Both suspects are hiding from Ukrainian law enforcement bodies. Sharii resides in Spain, Shevtsov – in the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea. Their lawyers tried to transfer consideration of the case from Vinnytsia to Kyiv and reached the Supreme Court of Ukraine. However, it refused to satisfy their claims.
Next session of the court in Vinnytsia is scheduled for January 14, 2025. Let us remind the essence of this case. The Center for Journalist Investigations (CJI) has made a lot to initiate it.
Since 1998 Anton Shevtsov has served in the Department for Fighting Organized Crime of Sevastopol Office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. He headed its unit. As he told, in March 2014, he voluntary resigned because he did not support Russian occupation of Crimea. We doubt he told the truth.
For example, look at the photo taken in May 2014. Anton Shevtsov with Russian symbols on his cloths participates in a «parade of victory» in Sevastopol, already occupied by Russian troops. He gives an interview to Russian TV propagandists.
Anton Shevtsov at a «parade of victory» in Sevastopol in May 2014. Photo: screenshot of video of TV channel «Rossia 1»
Civic activists of Ukrainian non-profit «Avtomaidan Vinnytsia» found a photo of Shevtsov with Member of Russian State Duma Nikolai Valuev in social media. Russian parliamentarian actively promoted «referendum» about Russian status of Crimea. They also identified an account of Shevtsov’s wife in Russian social media «Odnoklassniki». Her account has subscribed to a number of Russian propagandist accounts – «Club of Putin’s friends», Anti-Maidan» and «Russian world for Putin».
Member of Russian State Duma Nikolai Valuev and Anton Shevtsov. Sevastopol, 2014. Photo: Facebook account of Anton Shevtsov
Surprisingly, Shevtsov received high positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. His official biography stated that since June 2014 he has served in Ukrainian voluntary battalion «Luhansk-1» in the area of Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine (nobody of his possible colleagues confirmed it).
In June 2015, Shevtsov was appointed as a head of department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and later – as a head of department of the National Police of Ukraine in Chernihiv region. In half a year, he was appointed as a Head of the Main Department of the National Police in Vinnytsia region. This appointment looked like a «political gratitude» because he openly supported Sergii Berezenko (promoted by political force of then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko) during elections to the Ukrainian parliament in Chernihiv region.
However, civic activists in Vinnytsia found out dubious details of Shevtsov’s Crimean biography and required his dismissal and criminal investigation of his state treason. Their protests were headed by Taisia Gaida and veterans of Isa Akaev’s battalion «Crimea». Under their pressure, Anton Shevtsov voluntary resigned on March 14, 2016. He was detained at the border with Belarus on March 17. He carried 10 thousand USD, passport of Ukrainian citizen and ticket for flight from Minsk to Moscow.
Anton Shevtsov during detention at the border with Belarus, March 2016. Photo: social media
Anton Shevtsov was informed about suspicion in state treason. But in 72 hours after detention the Ukrainian court let him go because time period for the issuance of restraining order expired. Shevtsov did his best to delay the decision of court: he declared non-confidence to a judge, he refused from his lawyers, complained about worsening health and called emergency…
In a couple of months, prosecutors of Vinnytsia oblast closed criminal investigation for the lack of offence.
Taisa Gaida, head of non-profit «Avtomaidan Vinnychyna». April 2023. Photo: investigator.org.ua
In April 2023, Taisia Gaida, investigative journalist and civic activist of «Avtomaidan» in Vinnytsia, told the CJI how outraged activists protested against closing an investigation:
«I was offended by prosecutors’ decision. I told them that lists of Ukrainian military voluntary units were found on Shevtsov’s computer. I saw them by my own eyes. There were lists of soldiers, volunteers, commanders, with passport data, addresses of their relatives. I asked a prosecutor: he collected this data, it means, he had certain purpose! For what the head of Ukrainian police of Vinnytsia oblast collected data about intelligence officers all over Ukraine? Prosecutor answered me: «Shevtsov told me that somebody sent this data to him. We cannot prove that he lies».
Shevtsov returned to occupied Sevastopol. In 2019, he received Russian citizenship. In 2020, he registered private security company in Russian city of Kaluga. He kept complaining in Ukrainian courts that Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs illegally dismissed him from position of the Head of the National Police of Ukraine in Vinnytsia oblast because he had to submit application for resignation under pressure. In 2021, the Supreme Court of Ukraine restored him in the office…
However, Shevtsov has never come back to Ukraine from Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. After Russian full scale invasion into Ukraine, Shevtsov presented himself in social media as active participant of exchanges of Ukrainian military captives. He miraculously received an access to prisons where Ukrainian captives were held. They told (or read) in video interviews that they were treated very well in detention and how bad were Ukrainian authorities which did not like to exchange them. Some captives called upon to organize protests in Ukraine, in order to discredit Ukrainian authorities and «stop the war».
Those videos were posted by Shevtsov’s telegram channels and online platforms of blogger Anatolii Sharii with large audiences (millions of subscribers).
«Is he Ukrainian military captive? Yes. He was captured? Yes. Let us exchange him. But Ukrainian authorities do not want to do it. That is why I post this video», as commented Anatolii Sharii interviews with Ukrainian military captives, taken in Russian prisons or detention centers. But it is very likely that he knew that Russian authorities determined who and when would be selected for exchanges with Ukraine.
In June 2022, the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced new suspicion to Shevtsov in state treason, «under new circumstances». SBU argued that Shevtsov has launched cooperation with Russian intelligence services not later than January 2018 and that his supervisor from the 5th Department of FSB has been Maksim Kosenko. Shevtsov sent him information about non-profit organizations of veterans of Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist Operation, pensioners of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian intelligence services and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in order to recruit them as FSB agents or persecute in case of refusal.
As SBU argued, Shevtsov has supervised activity of FSB through telegram on occupied territories during spring 2022 and even made plans on sabotage and terrorist acts. It is remarkable that today he proposes Russian intelligence services to make terrorist acts in Great Britain under the guise of Irish Republican Army – as a revenge for British support of Ukraine.
Maksym Kosenko, supervisor of Anton Shevtsov from FSB. Photo: instagram
At the end of May 2022, Anton Shevtsov launched his own media project about the search of Ukrainian military captives. He received an access to prisons or detention center in Tula, Kursk, Bryansk, Smolensk and so-called «Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics» where Russian occupants have detained Ukrainian captives. The CJI identified 12 places where Shevtsov interviewed them. Besides that, Anton Shevtsov had an access to protocols of inquiries of Ukrainian captives conducted by Russian intelligence services. It is clear that such an access is impossible without close cooperation with Russian intelligence services.
«We see photos, videos with Ukrainian captives. Somebody records them, then, these records are somehow posted in social media. We understand that no ordinary person, even Russian citizen, can enter Russian prison or detention center with Ukrainian captives. Moreover, these records cannot be posted online without permission of Russian intelligence services. If they are posted, then, there are reasons behind it», as told us last year Petro Yatsenko, representative of the Coordination Headquarters on Treatment of Military Captives of the Main Department of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
As SBU argues, Ukrainian captives were forced to record videos with pleas to their relatives to pressure Ukrainian authorities to exchange them. Videos were posted on Anatolii Sharii’s social media. Ukrainian captives voiced Russian propagandist messages, discrediting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. SBU qualified actions of Shevtsov and Sharii as state treason.
Anatolii Sharii posted on his telegram channel an «official statement». He admitted that he posted video with Ukrainian captives, recorded by Russians in their detention centers. But he said that he did it upon request of relatives of captives and that he cut calls to stop fighting with Russia and other «propagandist bullshit». Sharii denied his cooperation with FSB: «I have never contacted with FSB. I contacted with a person, not sentenced by Ukrainian court, who held position in the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and who resides in the Russian Federation now». It is clear that Sharii talks about his cooperation with Shevtsov. It is also obvious that Sharii does not deny cooperation of Shevtsov with FSB.
SBU claims that Shevtsov submitted plan of creation of the «First Ukrainian voluntary corps» to FSB. He proposed to form this «corps» from Ukrainian military captives and use it for sabotage acts. Shevtsov denied it but then admitted that he worked on creation of voluntary unit from Ukrainian captives.
We know about Russian propagandist project to create separate unit from Ukrainian captives. It is called «battalion named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky». As CJI found out, number of Ukrainian captives, who agreed to fight on the side of Russia, does not exceed two or three dozens of people. They have served in illegal military unit «Kaskad», created in occupied Donetsk in 2017. Not all of them have been military captives.
Vinnytsia court scheduled three sessions in the case of Shevtsov-Sharii – on January 14, 21 and 28, 2025. The CJI will monitor the case.
