On August 5, 2020 a head of state Andriy Yermak used V.Zelenskyi’s signature and issued Executive Order 307/2020 firing Vasyl Burba from a position of a Head of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The process of sacking Burba extended over a year and a half. Petro Poroshenko himself was about to do this in February of 2019, but now, after Valerii Kondratiuk had been appointed a Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, firing Vasyl Vasyliovych simply became inevitable.
Valerii Vitaliyovych Kondratiuk and Vasyl Vasyliovych Burba are the real treasure, the priceless intellectual asset of Ukrainian intelligence services. It was Kondratiuk who introduced Burba to the DI of the MD, saving him from imminent imprisonment. The matter is that during Yanukovych’s tenure, Burba led the Second Office in the Main Department for the Fight Against Corruption and Organized Crime of the Security Service of Ukraine (Department K), and during protests specialized in orchestrating provocations against Automaidan activists. At least, word is that it was him who organized burning protesters’ cars and staged the “kidnapping” of Dmytro Bulatov, a non-staff undercover agent of the SSU, who managed to pocket $50K donated to Automaidan prior to his disappearance. Moreover, Burba was mentioned two times as a person responsible for carrying out the Boomerang plan, developed by the SSU to clear protesters from Maidan. In February of 2014, this plan was exposed by a then MP Hennadii Moskal.
11. Setting up roadblocks at the entrance to Kyiv by units up to 50 [Ministry of Internal Affairs] officers and 1-2 units of equipment each. Provide free passage for military and special vehicles via the central city streets, such as Kostiolna St., Mykhailivska St., Volodymyrska St., Nyzhnii Val, Lva Tolstoho St., Baseina St., and Naberezhno-Khreshchatytska St.
Executing Entity: the Main Office of the MIA of Ukraine
Resp. Person:Burba, Vasyl Vasyliovych, phone: 067-777-79-29
18. Provide a required number of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine squads.
Provide firefighting squads (30 firefighters, in shifts, round the clock, 3-4 cars). Engage radio-, chemical, and biological protection units (20 servicemen in total, in shifts, round the clock). Involve engineering equipment (5-6 units, 30 maintenance servicemen, round the clock). Reserve: in case of explosions, fire, etc. (70 servicemen).
Total number of involved — 80-150 servicemen.
Executing Entity: SESU
Resp. Person: Burba, Vasyl Vasyliovych, phone: 067-777-79-29
After Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (who was, according to the criminal proceeding, engaged by Kondratiuk into cooperation with the U.S. intelligence in 2001–2002) was appointed a Head of the SSU in February of 2014, Kondratiuk (during Yanukovych’s tenure, he barely avoided being sent to the SSU detention facility at Askold Alley on suspicion of working for American intelligence) immediately got a position of a Head of the Counterintelligence Department of the SSU, and became the Head of the DI of the MD in March of 2015. Kondratiuk transferred his drinking buddy Burba to the position of a Deputy Head of the DI of the MD, making him immune both to “lustrators” and prosecutors.
One could spend hours recounting shenanigans of these two failures of intelligence officers, Kondratiuk and Burba, starting with murdering Andrii Halushchenko (a.k.a. Andrew), a public non-staff SSU officer. Rumor has it that it was this duo who was responsible for the crime. Word was that Halushchenko allegedly exposed defence intelligence officers illicitly supplying goods and drugs across the contact line near a small town of Shchastia in Luhansk Region, and paid with his life for that. The suspects were soon arrested by the military prosecutors of the ATO forces; but then they were set free, the case was abandoned, and the blame was placed on some deceased separatist.
And only the deaf did not hear about how Kondratiuk and Burba were about to hand over the “Island,” a DI of the MD base on Rybalskyi Island, to Poroshenko’s business entities. The same can be said about colossal financial mismanagement at the economic entities belonging to the military intelligence (suffice it to recall the agricultural land in Mykolaiv Region that Kondratiuk and Burba leased to farmers, or the activities of such enterprises as Derzhtrans, Ironworker of Ukraine, and Consulting and Business Cooperation Center, which are the operational responsibility of the DI of the MD of Ukraine).
Arrest in Moscow of Roman Sushchenko, a Colonel of the DI of the MD of Ukraine, and conviction in Minsk of Pavlo Sharoiko, a Colonel of the DI of the MD of Ukraine, are also a direct result of Kondratiuk and Burba’s insane brain activity. But the biggest scandal was caused by the case of the so called “Crimean saboteurs.” On August 6, 2016 a five-member sabotage unit of the DI of the MD of Ukraine entered the territory of occupied Crimea. Near Suvorove village, saboteurs were supposed to be met by Andriy Zakhtei, recruited by the Ukrainian military intelligence, with a car. In reality, they were ambushed, as the car was occupied by the Russian special force officers from the Vympel unit.
Ukrainian saboteurs managed to break out, killing several Russians in the process (including a Lieutenant Colonel Roman Kameniev), and on the night of August 8, 2016 forced their way to mainland Ukraine across the dam on Syvash, terminating another occupant en route. As a result, Russian authorities detained only two agents of the DI of the MD of Ukraine, Andriy Zakhtei and Yevhen Panov, and the saboteur unit returned home.
Insanity of this sabotage mission was obvious, as Ukraine had long recognized Crimea as Russian territory and throughout 2015 supplied electricity to the “Crimean Federal District,” having signed a corresponding contract to help settle the occupying military forces.
Moreover, in late 2014, Volodymyr Zinevych, a CEO of Ukrinterenergo, refused to sign the electricity power agreement with the occupants. Following President Poroshenko’s orders, on December 4, 2014 a detective of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine cuffed him. Zinevych was notified of suspicion in signing a contract with Steel Mont Trading Ltd (a company from the U.K.) in order to buy coal from South Africa, “which, according to certain quality characteristics, was patently unsuitable for use.” The CEO of Ukrinterenergo was immediately suspended, and his frightened deputy signed the contract for supplying Russian electricity to Crimea. Ukrinterenergo started buying electricity through a Russian oligarch Grigorishin specifically for these purposes.
Naturally, a criminal proceeding against Zinevych went nowhere, and on August 7, 2015 the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine registered a new criminal proceeding, this time regarding Zinevych’s illegal arrest as well as forgery and abuse of authority committed by detectives of the Prosecutor General’s Office who put him behind bars. Nevertheless, this proceeding also died inside the PGO drawers, since detectives arrested Zinevych following Poroshenko’s orders. After all, Volodymyr Demchyshyn, a Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, held a press briefing on November 3, 2015 and proudly announced that the Ukrinterenergo state enterprise earned UAH 300M in markup from January to October of 2015, thanks to supplying Russian electricity to the “Crimean Federal District.” Therefore, supplying electricity to Crimea should continue in 2016 as well.
So what was the point of sending a saboteur unit of the DI of the MD of Ukraine to Crimea, risking lives of military intelligence officers and agents recruited on the peninsula, if electricity embargo of the peninsula could’ve caused the occupants incomparably greater damage? And if Ukraine recognized Crimea as Russian territory anyway and was helping the Russian Federation in providing electricity to its military units and in constructing a bridge across the Kerch Strait, what was the point of sabotage? Especially given that all Kondratiuk and Burba’s special operations were prior knowledge to their Russian counterparts?
On August 19, 2016, having found out about the “Crimean saboteurs’” mishaps, a surprised Joe Biden, the Vice President of the U.S., called Poroshenko and complained about Kondratiuk.
Joe Biden: … My team has briefed me in considerable detail on the events that transpired over the weekend of the sixth and the seventh. And as you know, Klimkin initially shared those details of Ukrainian intelligence operations with the ambassador. But in the end, you’re President of Ukraine, and responsibility, with all due respect, rests with you… And your Military Intelligence Chief received a really clear message just several weeks ago regarding our strong disapproval for a proposed sabotage operation against military targets inside then Russian territory. And I know Crimea is Ukraine and it’s illegally occupied. However, you know, we strongly, strongly believe that raising the cost on Russia should only be done via political, diplomatic means, not military and sabotage operations… But incidents like this… They’re going to find out exactly what the hell happened. And it’s not about what the Russians make it out to be. We know what it was. Four frogmen intercepted, all four escaped. And the next night, friendly fire that had nothing to do with you guys. And Putin is trying to make some big deal out of this. But if… and I understand you’re sending your Foreign Minister to Berlin and Paris. But if they find out about this before they’re briefed by you, this is going to be a disaster.
P.Poroshenko: Thank you Joe for the very straightforward phone conversation. Again, I wanna repeat once again that that’s happened when I was in my Far East visit. We undertake the important steps which make this situation impossible in future. And the only reason why we do not resign the Chief of Military Intelligence that just I hate the idea to do it immediately now: anybody can interpret that as recognizing of any, of any responsibility… And I provide the very severe internal investigation and the results would be very quickly.
Indeed, within a month since this conversation, Kondratiuk lost his position as the Head of the Defence Intelligence of the MD of Ukraine. But not as a result of an internal investigation promised to Biden by Poroshenko, but because the position of the Deputy Head of the Administration of the President, previously held by Kondratiuk’s best friend Andriy Taranov, opened up.
On Sunday, September 18, 2016 Kondratiuk and Taranov were drinking on the “Island.” Kondratiuk blacked out, and Taranov, still on his feet, decided to take a jet ski ride in the Dnieper river. Near the Harbour Bridge, the jet ski collided with a barge, and Taranov died on the spot (by the way, Kondratiuk found out about this only the following day, as his subordinates were not able to wake him up). So Kondratiuk moved to the Administration of the President, put a loyal Burba in charge of the DI of the MD, and for two and a half years had been fervently catering to Poroshenko.
A week out from the second round of the presidential elections, on April 14, 2019, when it had become obvious that Poroshenko would hopelessly lose to Zelenskyi, Kondratiuk attempted to defect to the winner’s camp, started badmouthing his master, and even made public his “resignation letter.” But this didn’t help him much, and after the new president’s inauguration, Kondratiuk was kicked out of the Administration of the President, unlike his protégé Burba, who remained the Head of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence. The only position Kondratiuk had at least slim chances of obtaining was the position of the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as no one from Kvartal 95 claimed the post. But Burba set his sights on this same spot, because he realized that the new administration would not stand him as the Head of the DI of the MD for long, too.
The former friends decisively fell out, and for a year, Kondratiuk had been dreaming about getting back at an ungrateful Burba. When the state was being run by Andriy Bohdan, experienced in court intrigue, the Bankova did not pay attention neither to Kondratiuk nor to the gossip he’d been spreading about Burba. The tables turned when Andriy Yermak came to power. Kondratiuk immediately offered his services to the new head of state, promising to provide “damning dirt” on Poroshenko conditional on his being appointed the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
As it turned out, the “damning dirt” was the Poroshenko’s Executive Order 225/2018 of July 31, 2018 to appoint a notorious Sergiy Semochko a First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Kondratiuk, who was preparing this Order, recalled that there was only one position of the First Deputy Head in the staffing table of the FIS, and it was already held by Andrii Alieksieienko. Therefore, you know, by having appointed yet another First Deputy Head of the FIS, Poroshenko committed an atrocity that would shatter the whole civilized world.
Kondratiuk’s idea was favorably met at the Office of the President, and on June 5, 2020 Andriy Yermak used Zelenskyi’s signature on Executive Order 212/2020 and appointed Valerii Vitaliyovych the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. And on June 10, 2020 Poroshenko was notified of suspicion in illegal appointment of Semochko the First Deputy Head of the FIS, accompanied by Homeric laughter of the whole legal community.
At that, the fact that Kondratiuk had ties to the intelligence services of the United States and to the leadership of the Democratic Party of the U.S. didn’t get in the way of his being appointed the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. At least the head of state Andriy Yermak was not amused in the slightest by a fact sheet about Kondratiuk that was being passed around at the Office of the President:
“For their entire lives, V.Kondratiuk and his wife have been working exclusively in public service, and yet, according to a preliminary valuation, V.Kondratiuk is worth over $2M. In particular, according to the state registers, he owns a private house in Konyk gated community, 484 square meters in area and worth approximately $1.5M, and a garage at 10a Staronavodnytska St. Also, V.Kondratiuk is known to have signed over several real properties to his son, including apartment 174 at 46/2 Moskovska St. in Kyiv (worth approximately $300K), two garages in Kyiv, and two land parcels in the suburbs of Kyiv (worth around $100K in total).
According to existing information, while performing military service as a Head of the DI of the MD of Ukraine, V.Kondratiuk repeatedly received illegal benefits from awarding state defence order (SDO) contracts. In particular, in 2016, management of Crypton SIF LLC (an SDO contractor) purchased a new armored Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (АА0634СР license plate; worth around $200K) and handed it over to V.Kondratiuk. Also in 2016, his wife, Kondratiuk, T.M., got a gift of a Lexus GS 460 (АА7888КЕ license plate) and purchased apartment 41 at 38/14 Budivelnykiv St. in Kyiv.
It is known that V.Kondratiuk owns a Toyota Sienna (АА8878ІО license plate). It is worth noting that V.Kondratiuk received an illegal benefit (Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) in the form of apartment 197 at 3-г Maksymovych St. in Kyiv, which was “gifted” (given as a bribe) by a developer to a close relative (a mother-in-law) after signing a contract with the DI of the MD of Ukraine, represented by V.Kondratiuk, regarding construction on the site at the above mentioned address. It should be emphasized that the mentioned developer sold unfurbished apartments to the DI of the MD of Ukraine, even though the documents read that apartments were renovated.
It is noteworthy that V.Kondratiuk, while holding the position of the Head of the DI of the MD of Ukraine, issued a top secret order and appointed his wife, Kondratiuk, T.M., to an officer position at the DI of the MD of Ukraine and to an officer’s rank, which is against anti-corruption laws of Ukraine and constitutes a genuine conflict of interests. It is worth emphasizing that since 2015, Kondratiuk, T.M., has never showed up at work. KONDRATIUK, Vladyslav Valeriiovych, V.Kondratiuk’s eldest son, studied at a university in Washington, D.C. (the U.S.), where he’d been studying and living for three years that coincided with the tenure of V.Kondratiuk as the Head of the DI of the MD of Ukraine. 75% of expenses were covered by the CIA. KONDRATIUK, Oleksandr Valeriiovych, a middle son, is studying at a private school and lives in New York City (the U.S.). The third son of V.Kondratiuk was born in the U.S. (Miami) in summer of 2019, which automatically makes him a U.S. citizen.”
Even more so, word is that it is these ties with American intelligence services and personal acquaintance with Joe Biden (every time Vice President of the U.S. came to Ukraine, he asked that Valerii Vitaliyovych personally drive him to Boryspil airport on the way home) that became the decisive moment in appointing Kondratiuk the Head of the FIS. People say that Kondratiuk promised Yermak to establish collaboration with the new American administration after Biden’s victory in the presidential elections in the U.S. In exchange, Kondratiuk immediately asked to sack his former friend and ally Burba from the position of the Head of the DI of the MD, assuring Yermak that it was Burba who allegedly taped the phone calls between the Ukrainian president Poroshenko and the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in 2016 and handed them over to Derkach, MP (even though Kondratiuk, of all people, knows best that Derkach leaked the recording that had been officially taped at the Administration of the President during Poroshenko and Biden’s conversation and stored on servers in the situation room). But the last straw that decided Burba’s fate was Kondratiuk’s account of Burba’s potential involvement in surveillance of Yermak’s brother in August-October of 2019, when videos were taped with a hidden camera featuring Yermak junior selling public offices on his brother’s behalf.
According to Kondratiuk, Yermak’s brother was allegedly being followed by the officers of the Fifth Office of the Counterintelligence Department of the SSU, headed by Roman Chervinskyi, following Andriy Bohdan’s orders. When Chervinskyi left the SSU in April of 2020 as a result of backdoor political intrigues, Burba took him in at the DI of the MD, which proved, in Kondratiuk’s view, Burba’s involvement in producing and disseminating the controversial video records.
Naturally, Burba’s fate got immediately decided after such information. There was no doubt as to who should head the DI in his place. Kondratiuk chose Kyrylo Budanov, one of those very “Crimean saboteurs” whose shenanigan infuriated Biden so much. The new Head of the DI of the MD was chosen according to the same criterion used in 1613 by boyars selecting a 16-year old Mikhail Romanov for the Russian throne, namely, “Misha is young, hasn’t reached his mind.” The main virtue of the new chief of the military intelligence is that Budanov is totally loyal to Kondratiuk, he won’t touch the corruption schemes at the DI of the MD, and will listen to American handlers. And, above all, Kondratiuk can now again appoint his wife to an officer position at the DI of the MD.
Having taken over the DI of the MD, Kondratiuk must now establish total control over the FIS as well. To that end, he needs to put trusted people in the positions of the Deputy Heads of the Foreign Intelligence Service. And after that it will be about time to try on the position of the Head of the SSU. At least should Biden win the presidential elections in the U.S., a Liutenant Bakanov would need to start looking for a new job. That said, Kondratiuk might make this happen even sooner.
