Ukraine: Fugitive prosecutor claims state plotted violent acts in Austria

Ruslan Kravchenko, the former prosecutor general of Ukraine who left the country in September, stated on social media that he received intelligence in September regarding a specific group dispatched to Austria to carry out unlawful acts of violence against him. He claimed that the heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) requested this team be sent, ostensibly on the orders of the President's Office.

Kravchenko identified two military personnel from the Artan unit of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence Directorate (DIU) as the individuals detained in Austria. He noted that one of these soldiers had previously worked in NABU's surveillance unit. The commander of the Artan unit, Viktor Torkotiuk, was also present in Austria at the time his subordinates were detained.

"Back in September, I received information that a group of individuals had been sent after me to carry out unlawful acts of violence against me. I was told directly at the time that the heads of NABU and SAPO had requested that this group be sent," Kravchenko wrote in his post.

The former prosecutor general asserted that the group operating in Austria received direct orders from the Office of the President. He said he did not yet have reliable information on who exactly issued the criminal order. However, he claimed Torkotiuk was promised a promotion in exchange for the operation.

Kravchenko drew a parallel to an incident in Monaco earlier this summer. In that case, prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General are handling the criminal investigation. He stated he has information about the circumstances of those events, linking the personnel involved in Austria to the Monaco situation.

The former prosecutor general also named journalists from Ukrainska Pravda who had been searching for him in Vienna. He claimed Austrian authorities are currently investigating four people, including two representatives of that news outlet. He noted that Mykhailo Tkach was in Monaco shortly before the DIU personnel incident and was in Vienna during their detention.

"The legal assessment of these circumstances, the links between the individuals involved and the nature of their activities in both cases fall within the remit of European law enforcement authorities," Kravchenko said.

Kravchenko left Ukraine on the night of September 13 and 14. An order he signed indicated he was due to spend five days in Paris for hearings at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe regarding Ukrainian children. His name did not appear on the list of participants for the discussion. His official trip ended on September 18. Mariana Haiovska, spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor General, told Ukrainska Pravda that Kravchenko had not returned to work by September 21.

In Austria, prosecutors said the detention of Ukrainska Pravda journalists Mykhailo Tkach and Yaroslav Bondarenko was prompted by eyewitness testimony. The journalists were detained on October 8 while on an editorial assignment to locate Kravchenko. Austrian Interior Ministry sources initially suspected Tkach of espionage, a suspicion later not substantiated. Tkach reported that armed masked men smashed the windows of his car and dragged him and Bondarenko onto the road. He said one man knelt on his neck while he insisted he was a journalist.

Bondarenko was injured during the detention. Tkach was released on October 9. On October 14, Tkach said testimony from people linked to Kravchenko might have led to the detention. He noted that investigators already knew the detainees were Ukrainian journalists by the time of questioning.